Can't stop feeling
by Eisfuchs
Summary: Sasuke knew he made a mistake at that time. Thus should be happy to get another chance winning his best friend back, right? Wrong, because he was quite sure the last time they met, said friend has been a dude without...boobs... AU SasuFemNaru
1. See you soon

So^^° yeah, first time I'm uploading a story on this site. So I think it's important to say I'm not a native and I may suck in grammar and get the meaning of some words wrong. It would be really great if someone would like to beta the story. It would not only help the story but me as well because then I might understand some of my mistakes. Yeah, so enjoy^^

Rated M for language o_o ...

Btw the idea to the story came from the song "I can't stop feeling" by Queensbeery

**Disclaimer**: Naruto and its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto

**Can't stop feeling**

Chapter One- See you soon

Jiraya looked at the young child that was sitting like a picture of misery in the seemingly large chair. Blond spiky hair was sprawled around the chubby face and hid the kid's eyes, which usually, Jiraya knew, would even make the ocean appear grey and dull. But right now, he wouldn't dare to look at them. He was too scared of what he might see, because they were so expressive that every time you look at them you would know exactly what their owner felt or thought. He was afraid that he would see nothing.

He had a feeling what might be the reason for the young's behaviour. The kid was an orphan, had always been one and had lived at the orphanage since he could remember. The first years people had avoided it because of the strange markings on its cheek- three horizontal lines, like whiskers- and the child had to watch them walk away with the other children, while the kid himself had cowered in a corner. Eventually there was a changing point and the child, who had been shy and quiet, had turned to a loudmouth with a rather crude vocabulary, a smile that must have been clued to its face permanently and a streak to play pranks on people of all kind. The character-change had not made it better, quite the contrary, it had made it worse, and none of the possible parents had wanted to have a rude child, like said one...until a few weeks ago. He had never seen the kid happier- well, maybe the time the boy with the weird hair had acknowledged the youngster as his best friend- but fact was that its face had shined like the sun itself. Even Jiraya's days had seemed brighter those last weeks and now...this. It was like the apocalypse. It rained like there was no tomorrow, there was an atmosphere like on a funeral and his prettiest girlfriend had found out he was cheating on her, which consequently made her break up with him. His right cheek still burned from that punch.

Back to topic...he had the feeling the boy with the weird hair was the one at fault. That punk had always brought the unsecure sides out of the blonde. But this time the little shit would pay hell the moment he found out what could have let to such a reaction, especially now that the kid finally had found a family.

Jiraya sighed. He knew he had many gifts, but he certainly was not gifted in comforting people. Hell, that old grumpy man who lived next door was probably better in consoling someone than him. Ah, what the fuck, there shouldn't someone to be consoled sit there in the first place. He sighed again. He lifted his eyes to the small child and saw that it was shaking under the overlarge school uniform. He narrowed his eyes and made a decision. He sucked in comforting, so what? He would help the child in his own way.

"Oi, gaki." He called out the blond and saw the kid stop shaking. "Are you going to sit there like a drowned kitten all day? If I had known that beforehand I would have left, because of you I wasted all my precious research-time", he ended. He could feel shivers go up his spine and knew that those eyes most likely glared at him with as much fury as his childhood friend when he groped her. Just the thought made him shudder again. The hook of his latest ex was nothing against the one of that monster of a woman. Hopefully the little blond wouldn't turn out the same.

He was interrupted in his train of thought the moment something hit him painfully in the head, resulting in him falling from his office chair and smacking his head on the windowsill. Oh god, that had hurt. Standing up, he came face to face with a shoe that lay innocently on his desk. Right, innocently, that shoe had been thrown with such gusto that he surely spouted its imprint on his forehead. Damn him for trying to help someone, this was the last time he did that.

"Damn perverted old men." The man turned to the growling blond who was still glaring murder at him. At least the depressed aura was gone that had been wobbling around the kid. When this was over he would clap himself on the shoulder, because he was just that good. But before that he would had to finish the job.

"Kid, kid, kid, you have no idea about the bliss that hides within the soft curves of the fairer sex."

"Perverted old lecher!" Okay, the screeching told him he might have overdone it a little bit, although it mostly did the desired, namely distracting the little blond pest. But he would without a doubt be deaf by the end of this session. Oh man...the kid was still ranting "I will so not come here ever again, pervert. Lecher. "Maybe now he should put the lid on this whole thing?

"Don't take it so hard gaki, when you're a little older, you'll know what I mean", he said, sending the extreme suddenly frozen blond a questioning look. Big blue eyes were staring at him like he was spurting four heads and a tail. The colour of the child's face was switching from white to blue to red and would start again at the beginning. Eventually it stayed red, which should have warned him.

"WHAT THE HELL YOU FUCKING OLD PERVERT", the blond screamed. "WHY WOULD I UNDERSTAND YOUR FUCKING INSANE MIND AND PERVERTED ATTITUDE WHEN I MYSELF WILL GROW SOME FUCKING TITS!"

Okay, he knew the kid had some major issues with being a girl but this was ridiculous. What was so bad about those lovely curves? Wouldn't Jiraya have been too obsessed with this special part of the female body, he might have realised that a girl, who wanted to be a boy, obviously didn't want to have unnecessary fat on her chest. So sadly he couldn't sympathize with the small little blond.

"Ah, Naru-chan, actually you're such a tomboy I sometimes actually forget that you're indeed a girl." he laughed. Honestly, he had not one time forgotten that the kid was a girl. She was too small to be a boy and even so boys and girls have the same chubby features and those really big eyes at this age, Naru- which was actually her real name, he had no idea who started that Naru_to_ thing- was just too feminine with her long eyelashes, bigger than big blue eyes and her tiny frame. The problem was, nobody could see that through overlarge clothes and lots of smudge, because Naru must have the image that boys were dirty twenty-four seven and though lived like that. Add her rude language, hobbies, which included soccer, doing pranks and quarrelling with boys twice as old and twice as big as her, and her pig-ish eating habits it wasn't a wonder everybody thought she was a boy. He even knew that the man who had adopted her only learned she was a girl when he had already signed the documents for the adoption. Must have been quite the shock. Poor man.

Oh he seemed to have spaced out, the girl was ranting again. "...and then I will tell Iruka and he will so punch you in your ugly pervert-face, you old pervert." He would miss her cursing.

Practically this visit wasn't supposed to be a therapy session but a goodbye. Because of the fact Naru would live with her guardian now, she would also attend another school that was not only nearer to their flat but would also help the man to turn her into a girl. Jiraya could still remember the fit she threw after her new father had told her she would attend an all-girls school. He knew the school and the principal who was the previous mentioned childhood friend. He was sure Tsunade would curse him to a place worse than hell when she met Naru for the first time and that he had faked her records. Oh god, maybe he should migrate as long as he had the chance.

"Are you even listening to me you old man?" He flinched at the high pitch of her voice. Yeah, the Tsunade would definitely kill him for this. "Yeah gaki I heard. And I know how much you're admiring me but I have not all day. I have a flight to book." Two months Hawaii sounded nice. This would hopefully be long enough to calm the murderous blond so he would end up with only a few broken ribs and another two months in the hospital instead of the graveyard. Yup, time to go on book said flight.

He glanced at the little blond midget, who has finally calmed down. She looked sad but not to the extent like when she had walked in his office 30 minutes prior.

"Ero-Sennin", she mumbled. God, where those tears in her eyes? He might be bad at comforting but difficult goodbye-scenes like this one were really not good for his heart. I would not cry, dammit.

Jiraya fully stood up and made his way over to the girl. She only reached to the waist so he had to bend down to look her in the eyes. "Hey gaki," for once his voice was serious. "Don't look like that. It's not like we're outta this world. We see each other again." He knew he was going to sound like some cheesy old goof from some third-rated romance, but, hell, what didn't he do for this brat. "That is not goodbye but a see you soon, alright?" he smiled at her and ruffled her short blond her.

Finally he got her to smile. Her eyes were still a little teary but she seemed to feel better know. Before he knew what happened he found himself on the floor with his arms full of a small ball of sunshine. The hug wasn't long, so both gave their farewells- Naru with an overenthusiastic 'Ero-sennin' and Jiraya with a laughing 'gaki'- and then the girl run, like the little whirlwind she was, out the door.

He laughed a last time before he immediately moved back to his desk to push all his important stuff into his briefcase, his smile was long gone. He had to get out of Japan as fast as possible, and then he may have a few days in advance when Tsunade would try to hunt him down. What was he thinking? The weekend wasn't nearly enough to hold this Hercules of a woman –she was beautiful alright, but a Hercules nevertheless- off his tail. Faintly he could hear the shrieking of his door; ignoring it he continued to gather his belongings. He had other problems right now.

"Ah, that probably means you're running away till Tsunade-hime will have calmed down?" Jiraya knew that lazy voice and he knew Kakashi hasn't asked a question, he had made a statement. "You know you are going to anger her more, don't you?"

"She can't kill me when she doesn't know where I am." He said in his hurry and took just a small glance at the other man. "Another thing, ya know what the little black-haired punk had said to her, to shake her up that much?" He closed his briefcase, sure to have packed everything, and turned to Kakashi while leaning against his desk.

"Sasuke-kun wasn't too enthralled when he heard his best friend was leaving him, so he said some harsh words to Naru-chan", Kakashi replied.

"Piece of shit", Jiraya growled "I've no idea why she even had put up with the mini-prick. I have never seen such a stuck-up kid. Even Itachi was more tolerable with his 'everybody is air'- attitude. Did you see her before she had walked in here? Her aura had given me the creeps, I tell you. Do me a favour and teach the punk a lesson."

Kakashi shook his head. "I think he will be punished enough with feeling guilty about the whole situation. He overreacted and lost not only just a friend but the only person who had understood him. He will realize that soon enough."

Jiraya snorted at him. Kakashi just favoured that little shit too much. If it were up to him the snot-nosed brat would get such a lecture, that he would piss his pants the next time he saw him. Okay, so he favoured Naru as well but didn't the little bastard know that's under a man's dignity to hurt a girl- he discreetly ignored all the times he gave her detention for pummelling boys into the ground- and that he should take his punishment like a man- that he _definitely_ was with 9years- and then he might allow him to beg on his knees for her forgiveness.

If the other man was on the boy's side so be it, he hadn't the time to explain Kakashi why exactly the snot-nosed punk with the major attitude problem was...well...a snot-nosed punk with a major attitude problem, he had a woman to run away from. So he grabbed his briefcase and made his way over to the door. "So I'm gone. Play nice and have fun, sub."

Within the doorway he paused and looked a last time at Kakashi. "Does the little shit even know that she's a girl?"

He could only see a smile under the mask Kakashi was wearing.

TBC

Someone out there interested who might be interested in the story? o_o?


	2. Konoha Gakuen

Here comes Chapter two^^

Hey guys you're really really great. Thank you for the review and that you're interested in that story. And I hope you'll like that second chapter. That is really one long thing. 43 sides on words O_O But I really didn't want to cut it into two TT_TT

So, yeah...please enjoy^^

**Disclaimer**: Naruto and its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto

* * *

**Can't stop feeling**

Chapter Two- Konoha Gakuen

* * *

„So…why did we fuse with Konoha Gakuen again? "

They looked disbelieving- everyone in their own way- at the brown-haired boy. They all knew Kiba could be really dense sometimes but now they thought there might be really something wrong with his head.

„Kiba. " A pink-haired girl sighed. „You know, you already asked us this very question like four times before? "

When the boy snorted at her, Sakura send him one of her glares. She couldn't stand his idiocy at the moment. They all stood in front of the prestigious Konoha Gakuen, which was to be their new school. Jiraya, their former director, had informed all teachers and students before the holidays that he and Konoha's headmistress, the famous Tsunade, had for a long time discussed a potential fusion between their schools. Finally they had come to an agreement to move their belongings into the much bigger facilities of Konoha Gakuen.

Originally Konoha Gakuen had been an all-girls school on the outskirts of the city but for a few years now, they had established contact with nearly every school within the area. They had build a close connection with Suna High from the south, who were usually hostile and only minded their own business and two years ago, they had fused with the all-boys school from the north, which everyone only called NE, leading to the need of a new building that could hold all the students. This building was to be a huge institution, which was located in the centre of the city and had stood empty for a long time. No one of the young people could really remember what it used to be.

The building had been certainly in the need of restoration and the other schools had laughed at them because they had heard not only Konoha's students but also their teachers and the headmistress herself had had quite the hard time with all the construction workers walking around the building, the backhoes and cranes over the place and a lot of other stuff which must had been a really pain in the ass. Afterwards however Konoha Gakuen had become the most beautiful school with a giant park that their students could use to their liking. They had also the latest technology and an enormous sports area. It could be said that the other schools weren't laughing anymore. In fact, it became quite the opposite, seeing as the students had much more playground for events and research, whereas the teachers had room for their own departments. They no longer got in their ways because they had more than enough place. Altogether they had more freedom and comfort, so the whole atmosphere had must become quite homey and relaxing.

Almost everyone of their old school had been thrilled at the good news. Sakura had been delighted as well. Actually she had wanted to go to this school since she was in kindergarten, but she had decided to go to their old school because of her first crush. Every time she had seen a girl with the cute uniform of Konoha Gakuen she had become green of envy but now she could finally wear it too.

The uniform consisted of a nice pair of low-heeled pumps and a short plaid skirt in the colour of lemon chiffon and black hold-up stockings that reached the thighs, so that only a small part of skin was visible between skirt and stockings. The skirt reached till the chest and had two black lines on the bottom and one broader on the top. Then there was a white blouse and a red ribbon. The emblem of Konoha, a leaf, on the left shoulder complemented the whole picture.

The uniform of the boys was simpler with only a pair of dark shoes, black pants, a white shirt and black neck tie. Here the emblem was situated on a pocket on the left side of the shirt.

Sakura really liked to be able to go to this school and she knew her friends were glad too. Kiba had had boasted that he would be soon part of the soccer club, that had been national champion for a few years now. She also knew that Shino was interested in the biology department and Shikamaru wanted just to lie in the park and watch the clouds.

She looked at the last person on their group. Uchiha Sasuke had been her first crush and she was happy that he was still with them. His former plans had been to transfer to Oto High in the east, which was a school for geniuses and would have brought him a major step closer to his goal -to be better than Itachi, his brother. However, Konoha was now said to be equal to Oto and had definitely more supports and capabilities, so he had stayed with them. Even so they never really got the relationship she wanted to have with him, they had become great friends, especially after Sasukes best friend had transferred to another school eight years ago.

First she had been delighted that the nuisance was finally gone but all of them quickly had noticed how the days and lessons had become boring without his chattering and Kibas pranks had never been as funny as his ones. They all had missed him, but Sasuke had missed the other boy the most. What other people didn't know was that she had seen what had happened between those two. The much smaller boy had been happy like never before because he had gotten adopted a few weeks prior and had told Sasuke about his move and transfer looking for an encouraging acknowledgment from the raven. He never got one. At the beginning Sasuke had seemed frozen and then he had pushed the blond to the ground. He had said really hurtful things to the blond and she had seen the small boy crumpling in himself. He had looked so broken and his beautiful blue eyes had dulled over like he lost his reason to live.

The following weeks she had tried to talk to the raven but he had grown colder than ever before. He had ignored classmates and teachers likewise and she had known he had been doing really badly on tests this time. No one really had known what to do with him. In the end it had been their teacher Kakashi-sensei who had talked to him. She had overheard that conversation, too.

Now that she was thinking about it, somehow she had the feeling Kakashi-sensei intentionally had waited a few weeks, like to prove Sasuke that he made a great mistake or to show him how important the other boy really had been to the raven. No, he wouldn't be that cruel, would he? Anyway, the talk must have helped Sasuke because he somehow had found back to his usual indifferent self and he returned to the top of the class. Only a few knew he was still suffering, fewer knew he wished for his best friend back.

"So guys" Kiba began and all eyes focused on him "Why are we still standing' here? Shouldn't we go to the opening ceremony?"

This time Sakura snorted at him. After Sasukes best friend had transferred, Kiba had become the prankster and loudmouth of the school. He more or less took the place of the other boy and filled the silence with unnecessary banter, which led Sakura to hit him like the blond from back then. And right now, she saw it as her task to do just that, so she hit him right on the back of his head.

He stumbled a few steps and turned with a growl to the pink-haired girl. "What the? You know you'll never get a boyfriend like that!" he screamed at her, which got a few of their peers to turn in their direction. When she saw them criticising them and shaking their head in negative she turned red from embarrassment and grabbed the brown-haired boy with the red triangular tattoos on the cheeks and shook him viciously. "Look what you've done dogboy! Now they'll think I'm some crazy chick!" Maybe Kiba would have even understood what she had said had she stopped to strangle him. But right now, he could swear he felt his brain flying from right to left and back.

"Sakura." A baritone voice cut in between there tussle. It made both of them look up at the raven. "You won't make it better when you're murdering the dimwit."

Sasuke was right, more than right. Now there were even more guys looking at them like they were crazy. She growled a last time at the other boy and then shoved him away, exactly in the direction where a platinic-blonde was walking who had not been interested in their little fight, consequently leading to him crashing into her. Whilst he ended up on his ass, she stumbled against her friend, who could catch the blond before they both would have ended up on the ground.

Sakura stared wide-eyed at the three. Sasuke and Shino looked indifferent and Shikamaru tried to sneak away; he didn't want to be part of something troublesome like that. The rest of the assembled students were silent. A few of them, those who went already to Konoha before the holidays, looked shocked when they noticed who the newbie's nearly tripped.

The silence was broken when the blonde found back to herself.

"What the hell?" she hissed. With a murderous glare she turned to the small group of friends and lastly her eyes fell on Kiba. She, too, grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up to her face. Her light blue eyes where blazing when she snarled in his face. "You fucking imbecile, do you even look where you're going or are your eyes just for decoration?"

"Ino-chan. I'm sure it wasn't on purpose", the small girl behind the blond tried to calm her. She wasn't really successful because the enraged blonde remained snarling in his face. "You moron, are you even going to apologize? Don't you have some manners?"

Sakura felt kind of guilty seeing the brown-haired boy being manhandled by the feisty blond. It hadn't really been his fault in the first place, so she tried to interfere. "Look...eh...Ino-san, was it? It wasn't really his fault, I kind of shoved him...so, eh...I'm sorry he fell into you."

She knew that the girl was angry but she hadn't expected to become the next victim of her evil eye and even so the girls glare wasn't nearly as bad as Sasukes Uchiha-death-glare, which had a long time ago lost his effect on her, she took surprised a step back.

"You shoved him? Are you stupid, or what? Listen forehead-girl, if you can't handle your little boyfriend here, maybe you should do something about it and not just _shove_ him into innocent people who are minding their own damn business!" she glared at Sakura, who was to flabbergasted to say something, then she gave Kiba one last glare and a furious 'Now move it!' before stalking grumbling of. The group watched her go. That had been...unexpected.

"Ano..."

Every head turned to the small girl left behind.

"Please, excuse her. She didn't mean it, she's just a little... irritated right now, I guess", she said and gave the group a deep bow to apologize for her friend, which made her black-violet hair fell like a curtain around her.

"A little?" Kiba asked with wide eyes lying on the girl.

She straighten herself and reached her hand out to help him stand up. The brown-haired boy took it gratefully and when he found himself back on his own feet, he checked her out shamelessly. He liked what he saw. The girl was cute with her long dark hair, the small frame and the lilac eyes. Hadn't she directly looked at them all, he might have thought she was blind.

She blushed when their eyes finally met and Kiba smirked.

"Ano...could you let go of my hand?" to emphasize her request she tucked at her hand, which indeed was still in his hold. He smirked a second time and was just opening his moth when a cry of rage echoed around the school.

"HINATA! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? YOU BETTER MOVE YOUR PRETTY LITTLE ASS HERE LIKE... **THIS INSTANCE**!"

The girl paled and freed her hand from Kiba. She bowed before all of them a last time. "It was really nice meeting you. I hope you will like Konoha. Now, please excuse me," she said hastily and then ran in the direction the blond had stalked off before her.

"Well, that was something else," Kiba grinned and walked back to their little group. The students around them had also moved on and they were the only ones left.

"Who does this Barbie think she is?" Sakura had officially found her first enemy in this school. She didn't know what was wrong with this girl but the next time she saw her she would tell her a piece of her mind. She had apologized, what else wanted the blond cow? "And how the hell did she come to the insane conclusion that this dimwit would be my boyfriend?" A hit to Kibas head made the statement complete.

Kiba ignored her altogether. His thoughts lied by the small girl, who had apologized to them and apparently was called Hinata.

"This Hinata-chick is definitely mine", he grinned.

Just then Shikamaru started to walk to the school and shook his head. "I think it's healthier if you stay away from that particular girl," he said. The rest of their group also started moving, following the boy with the high ponytail, but in contrast to the other ones Kiba ran up to Shikamaru and furrowed his eyebrows at him. "And why, please tell, should I do this? You also got a think for her, or what?" he growled. He didn't like what his friend was indicating. Why could he never make a move on a girl, dammit?

"So troublesome," the older one sighed and nodded to his right side to the west wing. "I have not a think for her, but I'm sure her boyfriend wouldn't like you hitting on her." Kiba followed his head movement and saw three people standing in the shadows of the building. The feisty blond was standing with one hand on her hip. Her long hair, which was pulled up in a high ponytail, swished behind her with every seemingly enraged movement she made. Right beside her stood the Hinata-girl, with her arms hold in front of her with all the grace of a Yamato Nadeshiko, if it hadn't been for the hand that comfy rested on her hip. Kiba glared at the offending limb and followed it up the muscular arm, and the broad shoulders and the fiery red hair. He couldn't see much of the male, but he could tell that he was by all means not a student of Konoha, with the blood red pants and the black shirt. He also could see that the punk had red paint on his face, right on the left side on his forehead. Kiba narrowed his eyes; that wasn't paint that was a tattoo, he realized. Somehow he had the feeling he should know this guy. Sakura was the one who gave his thoughts an answer.

"Isn't that... Sabaku no Gaara from Suna?"

Oh shit. Actually... maybe Shikamaru wasn't that wrong, he really shouldn't hit on the girlfriend of the redhead. He wanted to live a few years longer, thank you very much.

"Well Kiba, good luck with this one" the pinkette laughed at him and he knew Sasuke was probably smirking, too. And they called themselves his friends? You didn't need enemies when you had friend like this. Maybe it was time to search for some new friends?

"You know what? Just shut up!"

* * *

Hinata looked at her blonde friend. The girl had been ranting for two days already. It was now their third morning after their holidays and she had thought the blond might have finally calmed down, but no such luck. She was still cursing and grumbling.

"And the bitch just couldn't tell me beforehand? She had to tell me the last minute? I just knew she is so going to wrap him around her little finger, the bitch. And she calls herself my friend? That's it! I'm through with her!"

Hinata sighed. Why did every time she has to be the one to calm the blond?

"Ino-chan. I'm sure she wants no such thing", she was also sure she didn't deserve that glare. "If she had been interested in my cousin, she could have told him a long time ago. We all know that he liked her for quite some time, now."

"Yeah, because she is asexual, I tell you! And now she will finally sprout some hormones and pounce on him like some bitch in heat", she growled and strangled the air, probably imagining the last girl of their group. "Oh how I would like to break that traitors little neck."

"I think you should be more concerned about the girl in his class", she tried again. She didn't like to stab Tenten from one class above in the back, but she knew that she had to calm Ino before next Monday or this wouldn't end pretty. Ino was a girl who liked to get all worked up about things like that and their friend wasn't someone who would hold still and wait till she finished.

"What the? Tenten-senpei likes Neji? Since when? You can't trust anyone here, their all treacherous and sneaky." Inos light blue eyes fell on Hinata and the smaller girl choked on air. The girl wouldn't imply that she had some deeper feelings for her cousin as well, would she? Okay, so maybe they had some really deep connection because of the problems in their family but they didn't love each other like that. Inos next words made her heave a sigh of relief.

"You're the only one I can trust Hinata-chan. You're not some man-stealing bitch."

To be on the safe side Hinata kept to herself that firstly Neji wasn't the girl's boyfriend and second that the girl herself had stolen more than one time someone taken; if she did Ino wouldn't probably shut up for the next year and Hinata would be as helpless as the last Monday, when this boy –she couldn't really remember what he looked like- had tripped Ino. She had cursed him the whole day, only the short time Gaara had shown up, she had somewhat withhold, because Ino knew the red-head wasn't that fond of her. The moment he was gone, she had continued her rant and when she was finished about the boy, who tripped her, she started all over with their friend. Hinata knew that Ino could rail about her more than just a few hours. She didn't even want to know if Ino made her statements at home, too. Practically the girl shouldn't be able to talk anymore; her throat should be hoarse from all the talking.

"But Hinata-chan don't you think there are some major hotties here? Why can't I seem to remember their faces though?" She took one look around the classroom and identified several heads she knew she had never seen before. Now, that she thought about it, there were a lot of new teachers, too. How came she didn't notice this the day before?

"Ino-chan, please tell me you listened to Tsunade-sama's announcement before the holidays?" Hinata pleaded. She had thought Ino had listened to it because the blond hadn't said anything about it the first part of the week.

"What announcement?"

The small girl looked at her blankly and said "The announcement."

"Yeah, I heard you the first time. So what was it about?" Ino blinked.

They stared at each other for a long moment. Hinata's face was blank and Ino had raised a perfectly trimmed eyebrow. In the background could be heard the voices of their classmates. Eventually Hinata sighed. "The announcement about the fusion?"

"What? Another fusion?"

Hinata nodded.

"No wonder there were so many guys walking around the school grounds. Explains also the idiots who wanted to become part of the soccer team and made a huge fuss because they weren't allowed to yet. Our boys would never go against their captain and the bitch isn't back until Monday. Heh, what morons", the blonde laughed. Everybody from Konoha and the former NE knew that they would only make the test when the captain was present. No captain, no newbie's. Even the couch followed the rule. "But, do you think anyone of the guys will pass her test? She is quite the evil bitch when it concerns her obsession."

That really was an interesting question. Two years ago, when NE and Konoha had fused there had been a lot of trouble, because the captain of Konoha's girls team hadn't approved of the boys playing and had challenged them. The boys from NE had mocked her but accepted the challenge. Unbeknownst to anyone the headmistress Tsunade had made a big deal of the whole thing and had scheduled the game to the first upcoming sports festival, where every student, teacher and parent would be able to see it. Everyone had pitied the girls that were to play against the boys, but the unofficial bets gave away that everyone had thought the boys would win. Only two of the adults had put money on the girls. One who had known the outcome from the beginning and the other one, because he wanted to support the fighting spirit of his daughter, but couldn't really believe that the small girls could win against the much more muscular and taller boys. Both adults had won quite the fortune that day and everyone had seen the humiliating downfall of NE's soccer team. This defeat had given Konoha's captain the 'ultimate power' over the wholes school's soccer teams, boys as well as girls and especially the boys had learned how hard it was to please the captain. But they had remained their titles of national champions for a few years now –NE had been champion for three years before the fusion- and they all had greatly improved since Konoha's captain had held the regime. All boys had accepted her by the end of the six months.

No, she didn't believe that one of the new guys would make it, but she wouldn't say this out loud. "Maybe when she is in a good mood?" Hinata asked.

"Nah, don't think so. She's never gone easy on them, why would she start now? And you know what else?" Ino's voice was gleeful and a mischievous glint lay in her eyes as she leaned towards the other girl. "I think they'll have to go through hell when she's back. You know how much she hates the stuck-up pricks, so she'll already be annoyed and when she gets only glints of the pervert or the green gummy bear before training, she'll so gonna torture them they won't even know their own names by the end of the day anymore."

"You are one evil woman."

"At least I'm not the one who'll be responsible for their agony." She replied indifferently and took a look at her fingernails. By all means, she needed a new appointment with her manicurist. "But it's a real shame that she'll ruin our new pretty boys, isn't it?"

Hinata shook her head. This woman was incorrigible with her 'man-wear'.

"You just don't appreciate the beauty that lies within a man."

"Nice said Yamanaka-chan, but you do realise that it's still class?" asked a deep and definitely manly voice right beside her ear. The blonde blinked a few times and then focused on the silver-haired man standing beside her desk. The room had become suspiciously quite around the three of them. "Ah, Kakashi-sensei, finally arrived? You know, this student was really worried about that handsome face that just has to be underneath that ridiculous mask", she smiled at him, which made him blink. Ok, that Ino was one really outspoken girl it seemed.

"You're flattering me, but I'm not really into my students", all the students were sure he was grinning underneath his mask at the moment and awaited the replay of the blonde.

Ino winked at him and her lips formed a playful smile. "What a pity... You know what sensei, I tell you a secret", her tone was seductively when she started talking again, "I'm not really into teacher-student relationships either but I would have made an exception for you."

Kakashi's one visible eye turned into an upturned 'u' at the playful indication. This blonde was quite dangerous and eloquent. He had thought the year would just be interesting because of his former students but it would seem there was going to be more than one source for entertainment. He really looked forward to the next months.

In the back of the class sat one Inuzuka Kiba who had the feeling he had really really bad luck. First the pretty Hinata was the girlfriend of the homicidal Sabaku no Gaara. Then he had found out the blond bitch was to be in his class –Hinata's presence was a scrap of comfort- and the fucking guys from the soccer team wouldn't let him join because their captain wasn't available at the moment, so when he had asked if he could come back the day after they had told him their holy captain wouldn't be here until the next week. And during lunch his friends had laughed at him because he had most of his classes alone whereas Sasuke the bastard had a lot of classes with Sakura and Shino and Shikamaru had told him that he already knew a few guys beforehand who he had classes with. Everything was just _great_.

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke knew he was a quiet guy and he liked it that way but sometimes there are just those moments were even he has to articulate himself.

"Excuse me?"

The blonde busty woman sitting in the seat scrutinized him, as if he was... stupid. What the hell? Uchihas were not stupid! He suppressed a growl.

"You heard me you little shit. You may have been student council president at the school of this idiot", she nodded in the direction of Jiraya, his former director," but here you won't. We already discussed this matter and agreed that you and your little pink-haired girlfriend may become part of the student council but you will neither be president nor vice, got that? Or do I have to repeat myself a third time?" during her little monologue he had heard Sakura beside him mumbling something along the lines of 'Why does everyone think I'm in a relationship with one of those idiots' and even so this absurdity disturbed him as well, the way this woman talked to him annoyed him even more. He had the feeling she had some sort of grudge against him. It was not enough that Jiraya had hated him with a passion but now this headmistress seemed to loath him, too. What a nice start in a new year. Maybe it would have really been better to transfer to Oto.

"So, when will Konoha's council meet?" Tsunades narrowed eyes fell on the pinkette. "I mean so we can all come to an agreement with us joining." He could see that Sakura was intimidated by the bossy blonde. It looked like all the blonds of this school had a hot temper. Hopefully the two he met so far where the only ones; it wasn't like there were so many light-haired and light-eyed people in Japan.

"At the earliest in roughly two weeks."

What the...? What was wrong with this school? It was the beginning of the year and that damn council just ignored their damn task to make a plan for the next upcoming weeks. So much for Konoha is equal to Oto. That was a load of bullshit.

"You got a problem you punk?" her amber eyes looked like they were on fire. Sasuke thought the woman had probably some kind of anger issues and her next actions intensified his theory, because this _woman_ dared to throw a fucking rubber at him, not that he would let himself be some fucking target. He sidestepped the offending object easily and then shot her a dark look as well. "What are your glaring at you shit? If you've got a problem than open you goddamn trap."

"Why so late" he demanded, taking his place beside Sakura a second time.

She snorted at him. "Not that it's any of your business, but...", god this woman was irritating; couldn't she just come out with her shit. "...right now we strengthen our liaison to Oto..." What? He didn't know that Konoha tried or apparently had already made their first steps to an alliance with Oto. Oto didn't make alliances, with no one; everybody knew they stayed to themselves. "So snake-man and I made an arrangement and because of that our pres and vice are currently in Oto. Do you understand now moron? You can't have a damn meeting with the council when the two most important people are not present, because they do their fucking job elsewhere."

Who did this woman thought she was to call him a moron?

"Are you finished now? Then get out of my office. You're giving me a headache." The moment she said this, her hands went up to her temples, massaging them in a circular motion.

In the corner Jiraya couldn't contain his laughs anymore. He found the whole situation hilarious, because the moment he had told Tsunade about the little shit that had called himself Narus best friend, she had wanted to meet him. When the Uchiha had stalked in her office like he owned the goddamn place he had already seen a popping vein on Tsunades forehead. He knew she hated pricks and even so she allowed that connection to Oto she hated Orochimaru with a passion too.

In reality it hadn't been the headmistress who had made all those links, but she had seen the advantages and so approved of this little hobby of their blond pest, because when the girl had weaselled her way in Tsunades heart, the woman had lost just like him. Both of them loved the little idiot... which didn't mean the females had had a good start. On the contrary. He still thanked god he had fled back then. Because after Tsunade had met the blonde she had immediately stormed over to his school to most likely kill him according to Kakashi. So he was quite reassured when he had laid on the beach at the Maldives Islands and nobody had known where he was. But he had stayed nearly six months instead of the planned two weeks, because the day he had wanted to return he had phoned the blond childhood friend and well... had nearly pissed his pants when he had hung up on her two minutes later. Then he had had somehow the feeling that a few weeks... or months longer weren't that bad. He ended up in the hospital nevertheless. However by that time Tsunade had already fallen victim to the blonde's charm.

"What the hell are you still standing there for? Get out!" Jiraya turned to the two teenagers who were still standing before Tsunades desk. Either they were really stupid, which was rather unlikely considering they had been the smartest people in his school, or they had a hell of guts; he would have ran the first time Tsunade had released them. That rumour that said she was throwing her desks after the people who bothered her was true...his proof was the scar that sat on his lower back.

They must have heard his thoughts because Haruno Sakura was the first one to leave at a rather hasty pace. The Uchiha followed her shortly after but he walked out in all his stuck-up glory. Hell, he hated this kid.

* * *

The rest of the week went by rather uneventful besides the fact that Sasuke had spent the day he and Sakura had had the meeting with the headmistress with a dark cloud over his head and had snapped not only a few times at Kiba when the brown-haired boy had become too annoying. He had only ever felt that inferior because of Itachi but the headmistress had treated him like he was some kind of idiot and it had infuriated him. He had been pissed off because... somehow she had made him think of Naruto.

Usually he suppressed his memories of the small blond boy, whose face had been more than often been buried by mud and he didn't want to know what else, so that only his brilliant blue eyes had been visible. There was no way he would tell this someone, but... he had loved those eyes. They always had shined with such radiance and happiness at the smallest of thinks. He would never forget the day he had grudgingly admitted that the small blonde had became kind of his best friend. First he had thought he had done something wrong because the boy had suddenly frozen up, the following smile had been unexpected and Sasuke had _definitely_ not blushed because of it. No, he certainly hadn't blushed because he had thought he had never seen something as beautiful as that face, with the large smile and those sparkling blue eyes that had been glazed over with joy. And he hadn't shoved the blonde to the floor right afterwards because of it either.

After this confession the blonde hadn't left him alone. Not one second. And Sasuke was embarrassed to say that he hadn't minded one bit. He had been glad that he had got all the attention from the boy who was all sunshine and smiles, because Naruto had been contagious. Every time he had made him forget about home. About the parents that thought he was a disgrace because he wasn't born as much of a genius as his brother was. A genius nonetheless but still not good enough. Never good enough. And one of Narutos smiles had made him forget.

And then Naruto had come to him, telling him that he had finally found a family. He had been happy for the blonde. Really happy...till the moment he mentioned the move and the transfer. Suddenly a movie had played before his eyes; all the times his father had looked at him disappointed, Narutos smile, Itachi telling him he couldn't play with him anymore, Narutos smile, all those annoying girls from class, Narutos smile, the teachers praising him, Narutos smile...Narutos smile would be gone.

Naruto would leave him alone.

He wouldn't send him the smile that reassured him when his father would be disappointed again.

He wouldn't send him the smile that distracted him when his precious big brother had no time for him.

He wouldn't send him the smile that made him forget about those annoying girls.

He wouldn't send him the smile that made him feel proud when he got his tests back.

Naruto would just leave.

And when he had came back to reality Naruto had been smiling at him.

And he had hated it.

He had hated the smile. He had hated the face that looked at him expectantly. He had hated those blue blue eyes that had sparkled from happiness. He had hated the blond hair that shined liked the sun, which would mock him every single day for the rest of his life.

And he had hated Naruto for smiling while leaving him behind.

So he had hit him. Shoved him to the ground. And ugly words had left his mouth about not caring, being happy that the nuisance would finally be gone, finally get rid of, about hating him and he couldn't remember what else his cruel nine year-old mind had said. He only could remember how one word after the other had made cracks within the happiness of those beautiful eyes. How he had enjoyed breaking the blonde. How he had enjoyed the tears that had been flowing down those scarred cheeks. Eventually he became conscious again, by then the blondes eyes had become horrifying blank and Sasuke had run, not being able to bear the fact that he was the one who was the cause of it.

The weeks after he had become withdrawn and had tried to convince himself that the blonde had deserved it because he selfishly had left Sasuke behind. But deep down he had known Naruto had deserved the happiness he had shown and Sasuke had destroyed it because he couldn't stand a world without the blonde anymore. And he had regretted it. He had pushed away the only person who had understood him, the only person who didn't expect anything of him, the only person who had accepted him the way he was. He had pushed away the only real friend he had had and he would probably never see him again.

* * *

Kiba couldn't await the end of this day, despite that first period didn't even had started yet, he fidgeted on his seat like he had ants down his pants. It was Monday at last and that meant Konoha's soccer captain would be there today, which in turn meant he could do the damn test, so he could join the team.

Last Friday their group had come to the conclusion that the captain most likely was part of the student council and not just any part but he was either the pres or vice, which had got him one hell of a reason to annoy Sasuke. Prick had always thought he was the only one who would be good in the sports and brains department. Hah! In your face bitch, Kiba had only thought. He would bet his left ass cheek that this captain dude was some cool guy who would finally show the Uchiha his limits. God knew the guy needed someone who finally shoved him off his big fat ego.

He turned to the front. If just Kakashi would show up.

And like his prayers were heard the door opened and Kakashi walked in. But instead of being happy he nearly got a heart attack, because Kakashi just didn't come on time. The guy never came on time. When the guy was punctual it meant some major event was going to happen, some major event that would give him probably another heart attack. Oh god, maybe it wouldn't really be that bad when the day would move slowly, would it? He meant, he, too, wasn't getting younger.

"Kakashi-sensei. You're early. That's new. Something great going to happen?" the blonde girl from last Monday asked. The prior week had told him how nerve-wracking this girl was and that he really should stay away from her. He was glad she hadn't recognized him until now.

"Not really", he smiled at them all. Somehow it gave the brown-haired teen the creeps. Something was going to happen he just knew it. "I just wanted to see my little minions a little earlier."

"Oh, how sweet. Be honest, Kakashi-sensei you just couldn't forget about me over the weekend", god, this Ino-chick was such a cheap flirt. He couldn't understand how she wasn't ashamed hitting on their at least ten years older teacher.

"You saw right trough me, Ino-chan, but you really shouldn't flirt with me during class", he winked at her and his one visible eye went down to the paper in his hands," So let's start with the attendance list."

This went on like the last week. He was one of the first, so when he was called right after Hyuuga Hinata he lazily raised his hand and watched the rest doing the same. The last one to be called was Yamanaka Ino, the blond-haired cow, like Sakura liked to call her. She was the only one who waved at Kakashi cheekily.

"And now to the student I've waited a long time to see again." Okay that was unexpected. He was sure Yamanaka Ino had been the last one on the register, what was this about another student?

"Uzumaki Naru_to_?"

He just knew he would get a second heart attack. Naruto? Uzumaki Naruto was here? That was... that was... hell, he had no idea what this was, but it just gave him a mega shock. He hadn't seen the guy for years. He had thought he would never see him again. No one had talked about the blond and many had forgotten about the boy without a doubt but Kiba would never forget him, just like the rest of their group. They would never forget the boy that became a taboo to mention in Sasukes near.

Sasuke! He had to tell Sasuke!

"Baka-sensei", his eyes flew to the Ino-girl. What the hell? "It's Naru. Not Naru_to_ or whatever." What was this girl talking about? Naruto would kill her for calling him this. Maybe they were an item?

"Right. Right. So where is Naru-chan?" his dark eyes were twinkling with mischief.

"Dunno. Probably with the headmistress. You know, because of Oto." Okay, he definitely was overseeing some small part in the whole conversation, because there was no way Naruto would be vice or pres. No. Way. In. Hell. Yeah he liked the boy, but everyone knew he was a little bit slow and he would never accept that the boy was captain of the soccer team. If Naruto was captain he would eat a broomstick. Kiba still could remember their giant rivaly regarding soccer in their first years of school. And he knew Naruto had been a great player but if he had to accept the blonde as Konoha's captain would mean he had to accept that he was inferior to him too. Never!

Anyhow he had to tell Sasuke. The guy had felt remorse ever since the guy was gone. Oh, man. Naruto was here! God dammit, he had to get out of this room and tell Sasuke.

First Kiba didn't noticed the opening of the door but when he heard a voice, which belonged to 100 percent to a female, cry out "What the fuck are **you** doing here?" and a happy shout of "Naru-chan" from Kakashi, he froze up. No fucking way... he was dreaming, he was fucking dreaming. He would look up and there would be nothing. He was just hallucinating. Yeah, that was it. There was no way _this_ was real.

"Haven't you become quite the beauty?" No, he did not hear Kakashi say this. Hallucination. "What the hell? What are you doing here you fucking pervert?" Hallucination, la~la~la. NOT REAL!

"Well, you see there was this black cat..." the voice of his teacher was interrupted by the female that was NOT there "You know what? Shut up. I don't wanna know. You're not real so I'm gonna ignore you." Oh god, why would this NOT-girl believe that their pervert of a teacher was not real but she was? Maybe he should take a look? To... ensure he had just some fucked up dream? But what if it was real?

Slowly he lifted his head from the last row in the room and instantly his eyes fell on the blond who was screeching at Kakashi. FUCK! Who cared about the fact that this girl might by any chance possibly be Naruto. She was freaking HOT.

Long golden hair was pulled up in a bun, but most of her hair was still falling down her back and was somewhat curled at the ends that reached her hips. She wore the same uniform the other girls did, too. And she sure as hell had one sexy behind in this skirt. Her bosom wasn't that bad either and instead of the red ribbon hers was black. She also didn't wear the pumps but a pair of white sneakers and black legwarmers. Her golden hair framed her face and furious blue eyes were glaring at Kakashi. The thin whisker scars that he knew only Naruto had, were puffing out while she pouted her pretty pink lips at their sensei. And that tan was damn sexy too.

Oh my god. If that _babe_ really was Naruto he didn't care about eating the broomstick. Who would have thought Naruto was a girl? Oh he had to tell Sasuke! Oh my god, what when the prick wanted her? He wouldn't, would he? Sasuke was asexual for goddamn's sakes. He surely wouldn't want to lay his former best friend, who was supposed to be...well... A FUCKING GUY! He had to get out of this room. He really badly had to find Sasuke.

* * *

"Achoo."

Sakura send him a concerned look. "Sasuke-kun? You're alright?"

"Hn", he murmured. The raven looked at the clock hanging over the door. Another five minutes and it would be lunch. He had enough of this Ebisu-sensei for the day.

"Maybe someone's talking about you?" his pink-haired friend asked from beside him. God, why was he friends with Sakura again? She was so noisy.

"Hn."

Finally the bell ringed, announcing that the lesson was over. Ebisu dismissed them and Sasuke neatly packed his books away; out of the corners of his eyes he could see that Sakura was doing the same. When he was ready he waited till the girls was too and then both made their way out of the classroom to the lockers. They had their lockers near each other and Shino did as well.

"Shino, didn't you have classes with Shikamaru? Where is the lazy bum?" Sakura asked squeezing her whole stuff into her locker.

"Cafeteria."

"Oh man. Both of you just don't talk too much you could offend someone with your jabbering." Sasuke didn't have to say something to this. Sakura should know that when she wanted someone to talk gibberish with she should turn to Kiba. The mutt never shut up.

"So, we're going, too?" the only girl asked. She got her answer when Sasuke turned in the direction of the cafeteria. Shino followed him without a word and Sakura did with a pained sigh.

There were a lot of students running around the halls and you could without a problem tell who was a Konoha from the start and who their former school mates were. All Konoha students were talking about the student council president, apparently a girl, who was finally back from Oto and the guys shouted trough the hall about looking forward to some torture sessions with the soccer newbie's. He smirked. Well, would seem that Kiba would get a hard time with this captain. Maybe he also would attend the racket just to see Kibas dumbfounded face.

The three of them didn't take long to get to the giant room, which without fail could hold a major part of Konoha's students. Even so there were a lot of people running around they could easily spot Shikamaru in the right corner by the windows. But before they made their way over to him, they found themselves in the line to the food-serving counters. They were pretty hungry because neither of them had eaten a lot all day long. When he came up to the menu he frowned. Today's special was miso-ramen. How lucky. He finally had pushed out the thoughts of his former best friend and now they came back because of food. Great. Why hadn't the dumbass liked something else? Like some exotic meal no school canteen would ever serve. No. It had to be ramen. God, it was probably bad karma or something.

"It is fate." What the? Okay, he became delusional. He could swear that a guy somewhere behind him had just said some trash about fate. Right, fate.

He ignored his thoughts and shortly glanced over the offers. Well wasn't that lovely, they had filled tomatoes. Maybe that school wasn't **that** bad. Shino and Sakura seemed to approve too, because they also found something rather quickly. When they got their food he briefly glanced at what they had chosen. Shino had some kind of salad and Sakura had surprisingly taken the ramen. He glared at the meal. Now he wouldn't even have his rest from the past while he was eating.

"It is fate." God couldn't the guy shut up. He didn't believe in something like fate. "For goodness sake, Neji. Just shut up. I can't hear this crap anymore." Thank you very much female stranger. If you weren't a girl maybe he would have shaken your hand.

At last they moved to the table Shikamaru sat at which stood right behind a table that was painted orange and had graffiti on it which read 'head-bitch' in blue with a white and black frame. This school had some major problems. Why would the headmistress or even the teachers allow that vandalism? Ah, what the hell, not that he cared about stuff like this. He let himself fall in a seat where he would not be able to see this ridiculous orange object. He was sure hadn't the female made him shut up he would had heard another 'It is fate' from the line-guy. And yes, he was sure he would have heard it across the damn dining hall.

"Shikamaru, did you already eat?" Sakura glanced at their laziest friend. The pineapple-boy had laid his head on the table. Sasuke was sure the other boy had been asleep for some time now and wouldn't respond her in the near future. She must have realized it too.

"Lazy asshole", she mumbled.

She took a seat beside him anyway, whiles Shino seated himself beside him. The orange probably burned his retinas too.

"Anyone of you saw Kiba?"

Shino didn't answer and Sasuke gave just his typical 'Hn'.

"You're guys are so boring", she accused them. "At least it would be funny when the mutt would be here. But no, I have to suffer your silence. Hopefully he's moving into top gear."

And right the moment those words left her mouth a black-brown blur slithered by them and painfully crashed into the wall. With a heavy groan Kiba stood up and his eyes fell on his pink-haired friend, who was measuring him suspiciously. "What's wrong with you?" she got out of her lips before Kiba gripped her by the shoulders and was ogling her with a mad glint in his eyes.

"Sakura!" she squeaked when his hold became tighter. "You have to tell me where the prick is like righ- Sasuke!" and his crazy eyes fell on him. Great. 'The day couldn't get worse', he thought. **Then** Kiba did the gay-est thing ever. He grabbed Sasuke by the hands, flung his body over the table and batted his eyelashes at him like a love-struck ten year-old girl. By then Sasukes left eyebrow was twitching in an odd way.

"You won't believe who's in my class. Hell, you won't even believe what I'm going to tell you. But please, tell me you don't want her. Pretty please. I know you're usually asexual and all but please let me have her. Pretty please. I'll never speak a word to you again if you let me have her. I beg you, Sasuke. Buddy. Come on, we have known each other for years now. You wouldn't do this to me, would you?" That monologue had made three veins pop out on his forehead. He had no fucking idea what the hell the moron was talking about and if he just moved his ugly face one more inch near him, the damn mutt wouldn't be able to walk for months, because he would have a damn pair of broken legs.

"Kiba, get you face out of my vision", he growled.

"So, can I have her?" He didn't even knew who the hell he was talking about, god dammit.

Everyone at the table froze when they heard a lazy drawl. "Met her, eh?" Kibas eyes got even bigger if that was possible and Sasuke mostly likely would have gotten whiplash by the speed Kibas head made a 180-degree turnaround… That had been kinda creepy.

"You knew?" the tone held a lot of emotions. Surprise. Betrayal. Curiosity. "You knew and didn't tell us?"

Behind him Sasuke could hear a few girls taking seat at the obnoxious orange table. God, those girls must have bad eye-sight. Which girl would sit voluntarily at this table? "...and all of a sudden the creep grabs me by the tits and whispers 'I missed you dickless' in my ear." Never mind. Which girl would talk about herself in such a disgracing way? Better to blend them out.

He turned his attention back to his own group. Kiba was still incredulously looking at Shikamaru who stared flat back at him.

"That would have been too troublesome."

"What the hell? What's wrong with you? Isn't it some kinda friendship-rule to tell you fucking friend who suffered because of this shit for fucking years?" Okay now that may be interesting. He registered to some extend the '...lesbian?' behind him but paid it no mind. Now he really didn't want to know what those girls were talking about.

"I guess." He shrugged his shoulders but still held Kibas eyes. Beside him Sakura looked as confused and curious as he felt.

"You guess? What the?" Kiba grabbed him by the necktie and snarled in his face. "Since when did you know? And why didn't you tell him?"

"Since when did I know what? That she's a girl or that she's here?"

They all twitched when a girlish squeal came from the orange table. Shikamaru and Kiba didn't say anything and they could only hear the annoying chatter from the girls.

'Your lover-boy.' That was followed by the same annoying squeal from before.

'What's with him?'

'Maybe he's here? At our school!' Another squeal. God what a loud woman. But somehow the voice was familiar. He couldn't go deeper in his thoughts because finally Kiba had decided what was more important. "Why didn't you tell him?"

Shikamaru loosened the grip on his tie and leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes he said: "It wasn't really my place to tell. And honestly would you have believed me if I told you? Geez."

'...student council president?' the familiar voice again.

Kiba leaned also back and furrowed his forehead. "Probably not."

"See, why I didn't say anything. I wasn't even sure it's her until a few months ago." Slowly this was becoming annoying. It's nice that they finally found an agreement but he would like to know, too, what the hell was going on. Because quite frankly it must have something to do with him, when the mutt nearly kissed him because of 'her', whoever 'her' was.

'...tomatoes...' now that was a nice theme. What a pity he was more interested in that conversation of Kiba's and Shikamaru's. "So how did you find out she was, eh... you know?"

Thank goodness Sakura couldn't stand their secrecy or whatever it was as well. It would have been a cold day in hell if he had had to ask.

"What the hell is going on? First Kiba acts like a madman, then you fight about some shit that seemed pretty serious and now everything is fluffy?"

'...uptight bitch...' Now he knew that voice. This was the crazy blonde who had made this big fuss on last Monday.

He glanced at Shikamaru. He didn't seem too enthusiastic about telling them anytime soon, that's probably why Sakura glared at him and then her eyes fixed on the Inuzuka daring him to leave them uninformed. The boy fidgeted in his seat and threw some nervous glances at Sasuke. Okay he really should spill before Sasuke would go berserker.

"Well", he started, "you see..."

" ...FINE! **JUST FINE!**" Why had that woman decided to interrupt now? He growled and looked threateningly at Kiba, who stared wide-eyed passed him with a mumbled: "Oh shit."

What the hell-

"Yeah. Checkmate." The Ino-girl.

-was with this reac-

"The name is **Uchiha**. **Fucking**. **Sasuke**. Happy now, you harpy?"

-tion?

...

What. The. Fuck?

"Yes, very happy. So what's he like?" Why were those girls talking about him? Was that some pathetic attempt to woo him?

"No, forget it. I'm so not going to tell you more", if it hadn't been for this..._interesting_ look on Kibas face, he most likely would have fled the dining hall. He hated fan girls.

"What? Why not?" Maybe because she was annoying and he was not of her fucking business? Not that she could read his thoughts.

"Reason one: You're annoying," He blinked. "Reason two: The guy is none of your fucking business." He blinked again...well,... apparently _this _particulargirl could. "And reason three: I've gotta hell of a bad feeling about this. I'll just know it'll so come back to bite me in the ass."

"Oh, come on. Don't be a spoilsport. It's not like the guy would suddenly sit right behind you and listen in to you confessing your undying love for him. That only happens in terribly cheap chick-flicks. And you said yourself he probably wouldn't be here in the first place."

Right. Only in terribly cheap chick-flicks. Maybe the next time they should take a look around.

* * *

"You shouldn't have been such a bitch to Kakashi-sensei", Ino said. Naru ignored her altogether. She was already pissed enough because of those fucking pricks from Oto. They all made her think of Sasuke-teme and the possibility that he was attending the fucking genius-school. Because of that she had been fidgety the whole week and had tiptoed around the fucking buildings of Oto like she was some creepy thief. Neji hadn't helped either with his fate-crap. 'Only fate decides if your paces will lead into another again.'

"Right. Fate my ass", she growled. Hopefully she wouldn't see Neji the next few weeks or months, which was extremely unlikely because he was the fucking vice. How could she avoid him when they both have to do those retarded student council meetings?

"What the hell is wrong with you, bitch?" Ino snarled beside her whereas at least Hinata seemed happy that she was back. She probably would have even been a bit happy herself if the first thing she had crossed this morning hadn't been Sai.

Now, she just wanted to be left alone after she got her goddamned ramen from the cafeteria. But Ino just couldn't shut up, could she?

"What? It's not like you have a reason to bitch. You had off school the whole last week and you had Neji following you around like a puppy, while some fucking retard had tripped me, because his girlfriend, who had a giant forehead may I add, couldn't handle the moron."

Naru opened her locker and shoved her whole backpack in it. Before she closed the door she glared at the thing. How could Iruka buy her such a girly _thing_? Her old orange bag had made the job; she didn't need a new one. She would make sure that her baby would be mended. Maybe she could ask the old lady from two floors down? Probably not, wasn't that much time between now and the time she had dyed her puppy orange. The dog had still a few spots on his fur. She would ask when the entire colour was gone. The hag couldn't ignore her forever.

"Are you even listening to me? Here I am forgiving you for keeping Neji all to yourself and you don't even listen to **me** when I tell you my problems?" Ino screeched in her ear while they made their way to Hinatas locker which laid a bit upsides.

"Forgiving me. Right. You surely have bitched the whole week. Who knows if poor Hinata-chan can still hear what we're sayin'?" she knew she was saying shit. She had talked with Hinata just fine while Ino had been for little girls and so knew the Hyuuga was of course able to hear as good as always. This didn't mean that Ino hadn't bitten of the girls ears the last week. Hinata might have said it wasn't that bad, but Naru knew her friend long enough to know she probably hadn't shup up until she had given her a call on Saturday and had assured her that 'No, I'm not fucking Neji right now. And now we're not an item either. So how was your week?' or something along those lines. How the girl did even came to the idea that she wanted something from Neji? She couldn't even stand his fate-crap a week, how could she possibly stand it her whole life? No thanks. It wasn't like the guy wasn't a good friend, or bad looking or dumb or what else. There just wasn't _it_. This something, she much later realised, that had been between her and Sasuke. But that was just normal. No nine-year old could possibly realise when _it_ was suddenly showing up. God, this didn't even made sense in her own eyes. She shouldn't think about Sasuke; it made her lose the little rest of brain she had left.

"Hinata-chan, you're ready? I don't wanna miss the love of my life." She grinned at the sweet girl that was only a small inches shorter than her. Ino was the tallest out of them.

The other blonde snorted at her. "How can you call an unanimated object the love of your life? I told you; something's wrong with your brain."

"Oh just shut up. I wanna get my ramen and then you can tell me this entire problem of yours", Naru threw grinning over her shoulder while she pushed open the doors to the dining hall.

Ino gasped at her back. „Problem of mine? You made it sound like I'm mental! You- oh look there! It's Neji-senpei. "God hated her. She simply pled for one week without seeing him and life just had to bitch-slap her in the face.

„It is fate. " Oh no. She so not needed this now. Why could she still hear this crap when Neji was umpteen rows before her in line? Oh man. She really had to get through this day. 'Think of training, Naru. Think of pummelling the boys in the ground. 'Yup, that helped.

„So~ Hinata-chan. How's Gaara doing? Haven't seen Tanuki-chan for a while, now", she smiled at the pale-eyed girl. She thought the both of them made an amazing couple. Gaara needed someone who was like a peaceful oases or something like that and Hinata was just perfect for this. And Gaara had given the shy girl a major ego-boost. Since the both of them got together she hadn't stuttered ones. Sometimes she really envied the both of them, because when Naru saw them she always felt empty. That she wouldn't be able to find that special someone that would made her _complete_.

Hinata opened her mouth and- „It is fate"rang out the deep voice from in front of the line. Again.

Narus eyebrow twitched. Enough was enough. „For goodness sake, Neji. Just shut up. I can't hear this crap anymore", she screamed at his brown head and was sure she saw him cringe. Hopefully he would keep quite now. God.

„You bitch. Why are you screeching at Neji? "Oh man. She had forgotten about Ino. „What is it with you? "

„Listen I'm just really pissed right now. I had to hear this whole fate-crap nearly 24/7, okay? I can't take it anymore. It's driving me crazy. And your Neji obsession doesn't help either. "She glared at Ino and then turned around to the canteen lady. She actually thought she had finally gotten the point across but when they got their meal the blonde started _again_.

„I am not obsessed with Neji! " She glared at Naru.

„Then stop talking about him all day long. " She growled and looked over their food. „Dammit Ino. Are you on a diet, _again_? At least Hinata-chan has taste. "Thank god, there were still some people who appreciated the wonder that was ramen. She would starve if she would have to eat the weeds Ino called ‚salad'.

„Do I look like I care what you think has taste and what not? And on top of this I don't want to have all this fat on my hips, which you will have when we turn twenty. "

„Please. I'm a soccer player. There is not an ounce of fat on me and probably won't be when I'll turn twenty"She didn't brag. It was a fact that she wouldn't get fat with all the time she was busy with playing soccer and Ino knew this as well as she did herself. And maybe Ino, too, could eat everything her heart desired if she did some sport; problem was, the girl hated sport with a passion. So no luck there.

„Speaking of sport, already seen the green gummy b-", she couldn't say more before a tan hand clapped over her mouth and Naru threw suspicious looks around the hall. Then her eyes came back to Ino. „Don't say it. " Her voice became a whisper. „He might hear you. " Ino rolled her eyes and when she wanted to look back at her friend, she saw a brown-black blur ran by. Weird.

Then she noticed that Narus hand still lay on her mouth and she swatted at away. Great, there went her lip gloss. When Naru felt it too, she made a disgusting grimace and rubbed her hand on her skirt while mumbling „Yucky. "

„Don't be a baby. So did you see him? "With a flip she threw her long platinic-blond ponytail behind her shoulder, balancing her tablet on the other hand. Maybe she needed a hair-cut, too?

„God forbid. No. The only good thing that happened so far. "They made their way over to the table they occupied since the three had become friends in fifth grade. That time Naru had still been more a boy than a girl and had them all nearly brought a suspension when she had claimed the table, which meant she had broken in the school one night and sprayed on said table a very interesting ‚nickname'. Well, it had done the job the blonde had wanted. No one ever sat at the table and when they fused with NE it was the only table that was brought along. Tsunade had feared the blonde might do the same to one of the newer and much more expensive tables. They all thought the headmistress had done the right thing.

„I conclude you've met the perv? " She could swear she could almost see the imaginary cloud that hang over Narus golden head. Till now that cloud had been only dripping a little; with this one sentence she had made it hailing, storming, thundering, raining and forming a hurricane all at once. This sentence had also made her ignore the little group that was behind her when she slid into her usual seat, with the female that hold such an outstanding hair-colour she could have never forgotten it and the guy with such an unforgettable hair-style that she normally would have recognized it everywhere.

„You have no idea", she growled, „I was just there minding my own goddamn business, not seeing the freak and all of a sudden the creep grabs me by the tits and whispers ‚_I missed you dickless_' in my ear."

Ino plopped a piece of carrot in her mouth, looking indifferently. „So, what did you do? " And earned a blazing glare.

„What did I do? I smashed my fist into his pretty little face. Why did you even have to ask? Did you think I would just stay there and say", here her voice became all girly and slimy, „'Oh_, hello there Sai. Long time no see. Yeah, just do whatever you please and take all the time you need. I just wait __**till you're finished feeling me up**_? '"At the end she couldn't keep up the act anymore and her voice had become bitter and harsh. Naru sighed. „God, I have no idea how you can stand the freak. Hell, everyone would think you'd put a fucking leash on him. "

Ino looked offended. „Why would I do that. "

Narus eyes widened comically at her, then she found back to herself, whirled her hand lazily around and said with a sarcasm dripping voice. „I don't know. Maybe because he's **your** freaky boyfriend? " Ino wasn't impressed and took a bite of a piece of tomato.

„Correction. He **was** my freaky boyfriend. "

„What? You broke up? **Again**? "Naru didn't sound surprised.

Now Ino seemed to find the topic worth her time because she leaned her elbow on the table and pointed her fork in Narus face. „Yeah. And this time it's final. I'm trough with the idiot. "

The golden blond raised her hand. „Hold on! I've got a déjà-vu. I think I've heard that before. " She massaged her head like she was trying to remember and then like there went a light on her head, she leaned lazily forward, raising an doubtful eyebrow. „Ah, now I know. Didn't you say exactly the same thing the last, what…ten times, too? "

Ino glared at her. „I'm serious. "

„Yeah, me too. " Naru slurped on her ramen.

Ino turned away and crossed defensibly her legs. „Oh shut up bitch. It's not like you would understand. You're totally asexual. "

„Excuse me? I'm **not** asexual", Naru growled.

Ino send her a provocative look. „Well, then maybe you're a lesbian? "

„I'm not a lesbian either, you pig. Just because I'm not lusting after every single ass that's crossing my way doesn't mean I have no interest in guys at all. " Naru spluttered. God. Since when was Ino that interested in her not-existent love-life?

Her friend uncrossed her legs and leaned forward again. „Oh come on. I can't remember you ever having a romantic interest in a guy. "

Naru was contemplating. It was a risk telling Ino about Sasuke, but that infuriating smirk just screamed to be wiped off that face. So she said. „Actually, I did. "

Inos eyes widened and Hinata who had been quite the whole time beside the platinic-blonde seemed surprised as well. Ino was spluttering. „What? For real? When was that? Heck, who cares about this stuff…more important: Who is the guy? "

„You won't know him. He was my best friend when I was nine. "

„Nine? Wasn't that around the time you came here? "

Naru blinked. „Nice to state the obvious. "

Hinata looked up at her with wide eyes and quietly asked, „Didn't you go to ‚_Sato __no __Kyōki_'?"

„Yeah", Naru took a slurp of her ramen and nearly choked on the soup when Ino gave an ear-shattering squeal from her. She thumped her bowl on the table and looked incredulously at the other blonde. „What. The fuck. Was that? "

The girl had a crazy glint in her eyes and it scared her. „Maybe he's here? At our school? " Hinata looked also somewhat… surprised? Interested? Naru couldn't quite interpret that look on her face.

When she had finally registered the question she asked, „Who is? " That squeal had confused the hell out of her.

„Your lover-boy. " Another ear-shattering squeal made her hiss.

„What's with him? "

„Maybe he is here? At our school! " Why were Inos eyes glittering like that and why the hell would the teme be here? Maybe she missed something because of those squeals? The third one Ino had just given had made her ear ring.

„Why would he be here? "

She thought Ino would jump in her face the way she threw her body over the desk to grab her by the shoulders. „Didn't you hear what Tsunade-sama announced before the holidays? " Who would have thought that of all things her first crush would make Ino mental? The girl didn't even make sense anymore. Maybe it would be better to play along?

„No? Who listens to the crap the teachers say just before holidays? "

When the other blonde leaned back and found her seat again, Naru gave a breath of relief. But then it turned to anger when she heard her next words.

„And you call yourself our student council president? God, you're a shame for the whole school. "

The smaller girl growled. „Oh shut up. You're just jealous because Neji's the vice and I can hang out with him any time I want to."

Ino huffed. „Puh, why would I be jealous?"

Naru made a thoughtful pose and then said. „I dunno. Maybe because you've been lusting after him since forever? " She really got to like sarcasm. Especially if it made Ino that stunned and angry.

„I do not! "

„Do, too! " Naru smirked.

„Do not! "

„Do, too! "

„Girls. " Oh man, why would Hinata be the killjoy? It wasn't often that she could tease Ino to such extent she started to behave like a 12 year-old. „I think what Ino wanted to tell you was that ‚_Sato __no __Kyōki_' fused with _Konoha Gakuen_. "

Narus eyes fell on the smaller girl. „You're kidding, right? " She really had hoped Ino was mental. But seriously… a fusion with ‚_Sato __no __Kyōki_'? She must be kidding.

„Do you even know who you're talking to? "

Had Ino just implied that she was stupid? She hated it when someone called her stupid. She had heard enough of this from the teme. „What the? Do you think I've got tomatoes on my eyes? It's Hina-"OH! Now she understood. „Ah, I get it. Hinata-chan wouldn't joke about shit like that. " Those squeals must really had confused her. „She isn't you."

„Exac-…" Ino paused and moments later turned red of rage. „Hey, what the hell does this mean, you stupid bitch."

Naru paid her no attention. „And here I was wondering all day long if there really had been so many boys last year. Makes sense now. "

„So do you think he's here? " She had never seen Ino calm down this fast. However the question was confusing her.

„Who? "

The platinic-blonde grabbed seemingly desperate her head. „Guess who, you dunce! You're lover boy! " Well, she had forgotten about that. Somewhere at the beginning of this conversation they **had** talked about her crush. „I'd really like to see the guy who was capable of successfully capturing the heart of our very own Amazon of Konoha Gakuen. "

„Hey, who're ya calling an Amazon, ugly?"

„Who do you think you are calling me ugly, bitch? "

This time both were ready to jump in the face of the other one. Thankfully they were all finished with their meals.

„Naru-chan? " She turned to Hinata. Sometimes she and Ino forgot about the small girl because she just didn't speak up often when all three of them were together. And if she spoke up Hinata was mostly the mediator between them, like right now. „Do you believe he might be here? The boy you liked? " Hinata was so mean. The girl knew she couldn't deny her anything with her cuteness.

Naru sighed and leaned back. Sometimes she cursed Hinata for sounding that naive. „No, I don't think he is here. "

„Why would you think so? Just give us a name and we can look up the records or ask about him. " Ino just wouldn't give, would she. So Naru pouted. „No, I don't wanna. "

„Don't be an uptight bitch and spill. " She growled and made a threatening fist at her. That wouldn't have impressed her, she knew that she was stronger than Ino, but she just couldn't ignore Hinatas eyes. Dammit were those puppy eyes? Hinata just didn't make puppy eyes and if that really were real ones that meant Hinata had finally been corrupted by them. Oh man, why off all times now?

„Oh man. Okay. FINE. **JUST FINE**! " , she cried and glared at Ino. She would never glare at little Hinata. If Gaara would find out he would bitch at her like Ino.

„Yeah. Checkmate"Ino smirked and at least Hinata seemed to be a little embarrassed based on the blush on her face.

„The name is **Uchiha**. **Fucking**. **Sasuke**. Happy now, you harpy? " A dangerous growl sat in the back of her throat and she still glared at Ino. All three hadn't noticed the heavy silence that had sit in on the table behind Naru.

„Yes, very happy. So what's he like? "

The glare was gone and now Naru stared at her female friend. „No, forget it. I'm so not going to tell you more. "

„What? Why not? "

„Reason one: You're annoying. Reason two: The guy is none of your fucking business. And reason three: I've gotta hell of a bad feeling about this. I'll just know it'll so come back to bite me in the ass." She could feel it in the back of her head. It was like this weird feeling when people were watching you. Creepy.

"Oh, come on. Don't be a spoilsport. It's not like the guy would suddenly sit right behind you and listen in to you confessing your undying love for him. That only happens in terribly cheap chick-flicks. And you said yourself he probably wouldn't be here in the first place." That was true, too. Something like this didn't happen in reality.

„Yeah, I'm sure he isn't here. "

Then Inos eyes glittered again. „But wouldn't that be totally romantic? " Okay, she was sure she didn't want to know what the girl would say next. Correction, she was scared of what the girl may say next.

„Just imagine this:

„_All those years both of you couldn't forget about each other. He, not able to get our beautiful princess out of his head, wasn't and still isn't able to find love in someone else and grew bitter and cold. He became the perfect little prince everyone envied and desired but there was this tiny spot in his heart that wasn't capable of letting go and so he kept on, searching for his dearest lady._

„_And you, our lovely maiden, grew up, became a beauty, found us –your dear friends- and searched for this special place you belonged to, ignoring every other man even if they were the nicest or most handsome, because you knew only he, only this prince, can fill the emptiness, which is torturing you and reminding you that there had been a time when you had been happy._

„_And for years you had hoped, begged to see him again, to see the boy again who had made you smile, and when the kingdom had announced a union with another kingdom your hope had been lightened like a candle in the dark, because maybe, just maybe, it had been his kingdom and finally, after all those years you might see him again._

„_But the kingdom didn't bring your most precious prince. It brought monsters, green monsters that tortured not only you, our lovely princess, but us, your friends, as well. It brought evil man and woman, that made your every day hell, teaching you cruel things you didn't want to know, didn't need to know. It just didn't bring your precious prince but another perverted prince, who didn't understand the screams of your heart that cried for someone else, a prince who tried to taint the body your held pure for your one and only._

„_And now, so many years later, when you have nearly given up and the evil prince has spotted the weakness in your heart, he, Uchiha Sasuke, your Prince Charming, appears with the union of another kingdom. He saves you from the cruel green beast and fights the evil prince, showing you that he is worth your undying love. _

„_And when finally the evil prince gives up and flees both of you turn to each other, look in the eyes of the other one and you remember every minute of the shared past, a past both of you had feared would vanish while apart. And you look into each other eyes and see that no one ever could have made you forget about the other one. That, no, no one could ever make you forget about the love you held for each other. _

„_And eventually your prince reaches out his hand and you take it without a thought, because your trust him, has always trusted him, and he gathers you in his strong arms and while behind you the sun sinks, you share you first kiss and you know that at last you have found your happily ever after too._

„The end. So what do you think? "

What did she think? She thought about a lot right now. Firstly and foremost was that Ino had one fucked up mind and was definitely mental. Second Ino had not only one giant Neji obsession but one giant and ridiculous fairytale obsession as well. Third she mostly likely would laugh in Sasukes face if she would ever see him again, because that incredulous story had made her imagine the bastard in tights. And fourth she probably would have laughed in the poor guy's face behind her who seemingly had choked on air and was coughing up his innards. Problem was, she couldn't,… because she tried to get a grip on the coughing fit she had gotten after _she_ had choked on air.

Thankfully Hinata was so kind to hand over her mineral water otherwise she might have really died. When Naru had taken a few gulps and found her breath again she looked shocked at Ino and practically cried in her face: „**YOU'RE SICK**! "

The slut had the audacity to laugh. „What? You don't like my story? Isn't he your Prince Charming? "

„Yeah, Prince Charming. Alright. " Now Naru got the crazy look in her eyes and apparently saw something neither of them could comprehend. „I can already see him riding on his black horse, that had arisen from hell itself, his onyx armour dripping with blood , a murderous glare on his face and the gleam of his sword while he's striking me down for just daring to imagine this shit." It send shivers up her spine and goose bumps down her arms. „Oh yeah, what a Prince Charming he is. " If she hadn't been too preoccupied with those pictures she might have asked while some of the guys behind her were laughing like crazy. And she might have heard the ‚Spot-on. 'too.

„You're kidding? He can't be that bad. " Ino looked at her disbelievingly.

„No, he's worse", she said, shaking her head to get rid of those pictures.

„Please, what kind of dude is he? "

„That _dude_ is a over-confident, egoistical, stuck-up bastard with a superiority-complex and a ten feet pole shoved up his ass…Well that pole might have spread some branches by now", she said and thought those guys behind her seemed to have one hell of a funny day. She pitied the poor guy who growled; the fun of the others seemed to be at his expanse.

„You're sure you like the guy? Don't really looks like it" She could see that Ino wanted a serious answer. Well, she probably would have wanted one too, when she had been the one to run down the guy she was supposed to like. She sighed and looked Ino right in the light-blue eyes.

„Listen. You can't possibly call that _thing_ we had normal. We fought every day and he took every chance he got to call me an idiot. Fact is…" God that was so embarrassing. She couldn't tell this with a straight face and she knew she was already blushing considering what she was about to say. „ Behind all this bastard-ness, deep deep deep deep very deee~p down within his little black heart he had this, I dunno, really cute side, I guess. I had been alone all my life and he wasn't living a fairytale either with living in the shadow of his genius-brother and all this stuff. So we weren't quite the happiest kids and while he growled at everyone that went near him, I smiled 24/7, but we both had those times when we couldn't hide how we really felt. You know? " She didn't really know how to explain the relationship she and Sasuke had and was really unsure if Ino understood what she meant, but when she looked at her sincere eyes she knew she could continue, because somewhat Ino did seem to understand or at least tried to. „And every time I thought I just couldn't do this anymore, couldn't smile anymore, he was there."

Ino watched the emotions that were reflected in Narus ocean blue eyes and thought she had never seen a face display so much sadness and happiness at the same time and was sure she had never seen her friend more beautiful or more fragile than this moment she was talking of a past neither she nor Hinata were part of.

„He tried to cheer me up in his own emotional-crippled way and…and it just was so cute. It was so fucking cute and sweet when he had smashed my head into a table and then blushed. He probably thought I didn't noticed but I noticed it… I…I had noticed it always. When he tripped me, or called me an idiot or threw something at me and… it meant and still means everything to me that he cared for me. You know? "

She blushed cutely. Ino had to smile. Naru had never said a word about a former crush or a best friend and she dared to say that Naru was scared to share her memories, her most precious person; because she might think that it all would be fading. And now, she was scared how Hinata and she would react, because she hadn't told them. There was an awkward silence around the table – around the table behind Naru, too- and gave her one more earnest smile before smirking at the gold-blonde. She could already see her shoulders relaxing.

„Well, aren't you're the little masochist? " And Naru send her thankful smile before a big grin spread on her face. She would wipe that grin off her face. „Bondage-material, eh? What would your little Prince Charming think when he heard this? "

And Naru went aflame like a tomato. „What the hell! I'm not into bondage", she grumbled and after a small pause added: „And he isn't my Prince Charming either! "

Ino smirked at her and took a small gulp of the mineral water from Naru and then put it back before the girl. „Yeah. Yeah. Denial. So what does he look like? "

„Well, he had a giant fan-club in ‚_Sato __no __Kyōki_' and surely has one where he's now, too. "

„Now that you mentioned it, why would you think he wouldn't be here? ", she asked curiously.

Naru swallowed the water she had drunken and then said, „Told you he has this genius-brother, didn't I? " Both she and Hinata nodded. „Well, besides having this major superiority complex, he had a major brother complex as well. I bet he went to some high stuck-up school for rich kids, where only geniuses are allowed, so he can finally prove that they're equal and he can get his cookies from his bro. "

„Isn't that peachy? ", she snorted. „But now that this is cleared. Spill. What does he look like? "

„Like I said, he had a giant fan-club" Inos left eye twitched. She practically could feel the ‚duh' roll off this sentence and what the hell? It's not like this would tell her anything.

„Was he hot? "

Naru blinked at her. „Well, possibly as hot as a nine-year old can be. "

God, this dunce wouldn't tell her anything if not provoked. „So he had a fan-club when he was nine? " she said slowly and Naru glared at her for it, feeling she was talked to like she was some small kid. „That doesn't have to mean anything. Maybe he became a fat dork with glasses the size of saucers and has pimples all over his face. " Okay, seemed she had hit the target full spot. Naru had some nice veins popping out of her head. If just the guys behind her would cut the cackle so she would understand a fucking word.

„What the fuck? He is not anything like that. If he has just half the genes his fucking brother has, which I can ensure you the bastard has because he was practically a mini-clone of him- without the girlish hair of course- then he is most likely Mr. Fucking-Sex-On-Walking-Legs." Still no description, which meant she had to jeer some more. At least the guys behind Naru had shut up. „Not that I would ever tell the bastard. God knows his ego is big enough for a life-time. " The silence was nice while it lasted. And what the hell was so funny? Hey, she knew that forehead-girl! Ah, back to track.

„You're lying. Embarrassed about your little crush, eh? "

„No, I'm not. The bastard is hotter than Gaara, sorry Hinata," she send Hinata an apologizing look before looking with narrowed eyes back at her, „ And he is way hotter than your creep Sai." Okay that was mean and had no details either.

„I bet you're just saying that because in reality he's an ugly midget with a fat womb and your embarrassed about it."

„And **I** bet **you** would lick his feet the moment you'd see him. "

„Alright I'm in. If we were ever to meet your man and he is really as hot as you're saying, which I do not believe, than you don't have to pay me back the money you owe me. " Ino would never lick someone's feet. Never.

„Hell, yeah. "

„So now spill. What does he look like? " She didn't have the nerves anymore to bait the idiot.

Naru made a thinking pose. „Eh… he had this really pale skin somehow like a vampire and his black-blue hair had this really weird hair-style, which resembled the butt of a duck. " Both Ino and Naru missed the widening of Hinata's eyes beside her, who had made eye-contact with the pink-haired female across, who was only one of the persons who had heard their whole conversation.

„Didn't you say he is hot? You really make him sound like a loser. " Ino also didn't see the guy with perfectly styled hair, which looked like the ‚butt of a duck', turn around in his seat and catching Hinata's eyes, who then went really pale.

Naru continued lost in her thoughts. „And he has this really deep obsidian eyes, which make you lose yourself every time you look into them." Beside Ino Hinata paled further. „So enticing deep obsidian eyes" Naru sighed and afterwards growled: „God, how I hated those eyes."

Ino raised a disbelieving eyebrow and leaned back. „You're sure? That face of yours just told another story. "

„Na-Naru-chan", Hinata mumbled beside Ino and held still the _very_ obsidian eyes of the male who _very much_ had the black-blue hair which _very_ _suspiciously_ resembled the butt of a duck. The girl was unheard.

„Yeah, I loathed those eyes with a passion. Every time they looked at me, my brain went out the window and made me stand there like some stupid weirdo. "

„Na-Naru -chan" she tried again and could somehow see Narus distorted face while she thought of the very eyes Hinata was sure were staring at her right now. Not good.

„You are a stupid weirdo. " Why didn't Ino saw him too?

„Oh, shut up. Just the thought of his stupid smirk and his stupid eyes makes me all riled up. " The gesture she made emphasized her next statement. „It makes me want to wring his pretty little neck and punch into that infuriating visage he calls his face." Those dark eyes finally fell on Narus blond shock of hair.

„Na-Naru-chan. " Hinata tried again. Why did they have to be in their own little world now of all times?

„Oh aren't we all lovey-dovey, today? "

„Just shut up. " Narus head bumped on their table. Couldn't she feel the eyes in the back of her head?

„So what else? " And dammit, was Ino blind? The guy was right there all staring at Naru.

„What do you mean what else? "

„Na-Na…Naru-chan. " Great, now she was stuttering again.

„What else does he look like? Now we know he has stupid hair, stupid eyes, stupid smirk… what about his ‚stupid legs'?" God dammit those 'stupid legs' were right in front of you. You could take a good look if you would actually be aware of him. Hinata laid a hand on Inos arm. Hopefully she would feel that.

„How the hell should I know, you bitch. We were nine the last time we saw each other. I can't possibly tell you if he has one huge fucking cock. " Hinata hang her head. She gave up. That whole thing couldn't get worse. Their whole group mostly likely had heard their whole talk.

„No need to bitch about it. God, you're so annoying. " There was a screaming silence around both tables, which only Ino and Naru didn't seem to notice.

Ino was the one breaking it.

„How much would you give? "

Narus answer was a dumbfounded „Huh? "

„How much would you give to see him again? " Now it became ridiculous. The guy's eyes must have burned a hole in her head by now. But all of them were eager to hear Narus answer, especially the former best friend.

„Honestly? I would let Sai feel me up if I could see him one more time. " The ones from ‚_Sato __no __Kyōki_' probably didn't understand this because only the students from Konoha knew how much Naru abhorred it to be touched by Sai when he had a perverted intent. Otherwise you could possibly call them friends.

„Wow. That serious, eh? "

Naru gave bittersweet smile. „In the end he is my best friend. "

„Only best friend? Sounds like more than just best friend. " Hinata begged, pleaded that Naru wouldn't gave a strict answer to this one.

„Maybe. " Thank goodness. Hopefully they would soon find the end and realize in just how much trouble they…wrong, in how much trouble Naru was.

„I…I really hope you can see him again…", Ino said.

„Thanks. "

Ino smiled at the blond and then looked at Hinata. The girl had been really quite the whole time. She didn't expect an expression that screamed they were fucked up. „Hey, Hinata. What's with you? "

Naru looked at the small girl too and was as confused as Ino.

Hinata sighed heavily. „Naru-chan. Just don't turn around. "

You know those moments some of your friends or some other people told you to do something because it would be better for you if you would listen to them, but instead your goddamn body just moves on his own and does the opposite. Exactly this happened to Naru.

And the only thing she saw appreciate to say when she turned around and beautiful ocean blue eyes met deep enticing obsidian eyes was:

„Oh shit. "

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Heck, that was one long chapter O_O Hoped you liked it and maybe someone's curious was going to happen...thankfully I've never been in such a situation^^°


	3. Reunion

**Hey^^°**

**After a year, CSF continues. I'm really sorry for the delay. And thank you for all the reviews. I would have never thought I get that many.**

**I hope you'll enjoy this chapter.**

**Ps.: I've got no beta-reader, so all mistakes go on my head^^°**

* * *

**Can't Stop Feeling**

* * *

**Author:** Eisfuchs

**Summary:** Sasuke knew he made a mistake at that time. Thus should be happy to get another chance winning his best friend back, right? Wrong, because he was quite sure the last time they met, said friend has been a dude without...boobs... AU SasuFemNaru

**Rated: T**

**Disclaimer: **Naruto© belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

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**Chapter Three - Reunion**

* * *

„Oh shit," was the only thought, which repeatedly run through Naru's mind. Her eyes were still caught in those familiar black pools, she had longed to see since that awful day Sasuke had broken her heart.

She could still remember the cruel things he had called her, said to her. She had never seen him so angry, not even when his father had been disappointed with him. First, she hadn't known what she had done wrong. She had finally gotten a family and she had just wanted to tell her best friend- her first love- but Sasuke had been as cold as ice. What had followed had been cruel words and harsh rejection.

At the end of the day, it had been Iruka to explain Sasuke's reaction and she had forgiven him in an instant. How could she not? Sasuke had been and would always be her best friend and she had caused him a lot of pain. Nevertheless, she had never regretted her decision. She had found a family that loved her the way she was. She couldn't give that back, as much as it had hurt to do this to Sasuke.

But, honestly, she had missed him. She had missed _her _Sasuke, the small cocky boy from back then.

However, now that he stood in front of her, she wasn't so sure anymore.

The man before her wasn't her Sasuke. _This_ Sasukewas so much taller than her, so intimidating, with blazing dark eyes, that it send shivers down her spine. This was Sasuke the man, and no longer the sweet little boy she had known.

It scared her.

She just didn't know this Sasuke. They had been living apart for over nine years. They had lived their own lives up until know. How could she possibly say that he still was her best friend?

Easy, _she couldn't_.

The realization made her draw back and bump into her group's table.

Not only that. He had probably heard everything they had said. She wasn't ready for this confrontation. He had never been supposed to hear anything about her feelings, her _true_ feelings.

She had to get away from here.

He must have read her thoughts, or maybe it had just been the desperation to flee in her eyes- people often said she was as easily to read as a book- because the next moment a scowl was on his face and he moved towards her.

A flinch left her lips and his face became even darker.

When he tried to grasp her- not that she would ever admit it- she squeaked and hastily crawled backwards over their orange table. It couldn't get any more embarrassing than now and she had done way more daring things.

Behind her she could hear movement, which meant that either Hinata had run off to get help or Ino was taking things into her own hands. Honestly, she couldn't care less about that now. She had more urgent matters: How to get away from pissed off handsome former best friends.

She was so screwed.

"Hey you, what the hell are you doing?" she could hear Ino ask.

She whimpered when Sasuke's glare became even harsher.

"S-Sasuke," she spoke uncertainty.

A loud screech made her freeze. Her eyes widened fearfully, noticing the mistake she had done.

"WHAAAT?" shrieked her friend unabashedly. This was it. She would never live this down. "This is Sasuke? Prince Charming Sasuke?"

Sasuke would kill her.

"Wow, Naru. I never thought you had it in you. But he really is one fine species of man." Ino happily babbled on. "There goes my money. He really is Mr Fucking-Sex-On-Walking-Legs."

That's it. If she had to go down, she'd take her traitor of a friend with her.

There was a blink of surprise in Sasuke's eyes when she narrowed her eyes in anger and gritted her teeth, but she ignored it in favour of turning around. Finding herself on her knees and with one hand supporting her weight, she grabbed after Ino's red ribbon with the other one and whipped the blonde down with a startled grunt. She deliberately ignored that she might have given Sasuke and his friends a perfect view on her behind.

"This is your entire fault, you damn bitch," she snarled.

The shock on Ino's face didn't last long, before one well-trimmed eyebrow was raised. "Why would that be? It's not like I forced you to talk about prince Charming, did I?"

Her reply nothing but fuelled Naru's rage. "You just don't know when to hold your fucking trap, do you?"

Ino peeked over her head and, assuming the way her eyes wandered, she was checking out Sasuke before her gaze met hers again. A creepy smile found his way on Ino's face and then, she winked at her provocatively. "Could have gone worse."

Naru's eyes widened in horror. She had a bad feeling about this. "Ino, you…"

"Imagine this," Ino started.

"Ino!"

"The perv could have heard, you'd let him feel you up-," she continued, completely ignoring her friend's desperate cry.

"INO! STOP IT!"

"-if you see your childhood sweetheart again," she finished proudly. Naru couldn't believe her. It was like the woman begged for a disaster to come.

There was an awkward shuffle from Hinata, who had apparently not left the scene. She also heard nothing from Sasuke and his group, only her uneven breathing after she had screamed at Ino, who still smiled happily.

"Interesting," commented a new voice and Naru could feel the blood in her veins freeze. Ino had lost her happy visage in favour for a nervous twitch in her eyebrow.

She glared at the blonde, before throwing a cautious look over her shoulder. She hissed threatening when she saw her arch-nemesis. Sai had always walked on silent paws. She would bet he was some kind of ninja in his former life.

Immediately her eyes went back to Ino.

The taller blonde gave her the puppy eyes with a quivering lip.

Naru's eyes bled into red.

Now, it was Ino who flinched and tried to draw back, but she only tightened the grip she had on the girl's ribbon.

"I'm sorry, alright?" she sputtered nervously. "How should I have known he was standing behind me?"

"You," Naru hissed deadly and the taller blonde gulped, scared," are gonna pay in the darkest and deepest pit of hell and I myself are going to make sure that you will suffer with every fibre in your body." And she meant it. All this had been Ino's fault. If it hadn't been for the girl, she would have never talked about Sasuke, and she would have never said those stupid things.

The new semester was going to be a disaster. She had seen the signs coming when she had to pair up with Neji because of stupid Oro-baka. And now, this.

"Hey dickless," interrupted Sai her train of thoughts. Her eyes landed back on the pale young man and she growled at him, daring him to come nearer. Sai was as unpredictable as she was with his weird way of bonding with people.

She would admit that somehow he was a friend. She even had had a little crush on him, back when the schools had their fusion, because he looked so much like Sasuke. However, the moment he had opened his mouth she had liked to smash the creepy smile off his face. What she had done. If she remembered right, he had lost a tooth on that day.

Afterwards, he had become her own little stalker, following her around like a puppy. That wasn't even the worst; it was his constant groping what pissed her off. She couldn't even predict when he was going to feel her up. He always did it at the most unexpected time.

However, this behaviour had almost disappeared when he had started going out with Ino and Naruto had been relieved to finally get a little space. He had still groped her from time to time, but she had thought this was finally the end of the whole stalking/groping issue.

She was wrong.

Because Ino and Sai broke up on a constantly basis there was also endless groping-Naru in between their get-together. She would have at least expected Ino to work against her boyfriend's unfaithful behaviour but her idiotic friend only laughed it off, saying she shouldn't overreact, it was just the way Sai was. Yeah, really nice, wasn't the girl a great friend?

So this was the only way she could react:

Bash Sai up any time he did something perverted.

"Come any closer and you'll drink your food out of a straw till you're thirty," she hissed.

"Why, aren't you mean, dickless?" he asked with his creepy smile on his face.

"Well, I'm sorry for not wanting to be you little personal bitch, asshole," she spit at him. Sai, however, wouldn't be misled by her harsh words and just kept stepping towards her, smile firmly held in place.

"It's okay, you can repay me by allowing me touch your glorious bust," he replied and Naru shivered, realizing he was earnest about the statement. Having already forgotten about her other dark-haired problem, this time she fled to the other direction, which meant crawling backwards to Sasuke. Neither of the people in the hall mentioned how stupid she looked crawling back and forwards on the table this whole time.

"Fuck off, Sai. Hell will freeze over the day I'll let you touch me," she snarled and waved her fists around furiously.

"Yeah, fuck off, Sai or Sasuke-kun is going to smash your face in," Ino interrupted their weird argument, glaring at her ex-boyfriend.

Naru froze. Also, now, she could actually feel the warm body behind her. Only seconds later she also realized who exactly was still standing there. She was so not going to survive this day.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sai asked with evident confusion in his voice. His smile also became rather forced while his eyes found Naru's panicked sapphires.

She couldn't even answer, which didn't hinder Ino from it. "Yeah, Sasuke-kun over there," she replied confidently, pointing to the tall raven, who stood behind Naru. "Naru's his property, so you'll have to go through him if you want her."

Shocked, Naru shook her head, mentally repeating what her dumb blond friend had just said. Finally getting the hang of it, she turned blazing eyes to the girl. "Are you fucking out of you mind?" she screamed.

"What the? Here I'm helping you and you're still unsatisfied? What the hell is wrong with you?" she threw back, glaring at Naru.

"No, what the hell is wrong with **you**?" she snarled and crawled towards Ino, again. "I told you to shut up about this whole Sasuke crap. He's got nothing to do with this!"

Distantly she could hear a low growl but she ignored it in favour for her blond friend.

"Of course, he has. You said he's your Prince Charming," Ino hissed and gripped Naru's cheeks, pulling them apart.

"Nou, I di~ no~" Naru answered, grasping after Ino to imitate the other girl. "Yo~ were the on~ te say he's~e fuckin~ brince. I wo~ld nev~r dare. He'd mu~der me in my dam~ sleep."

At this statement someone else snorted, but the two girls ignored it, being more occupied with each other.

"Wat a~ yo~ talkin~ abo~t. Yo~ said yo~ lo~v him, so why wo~ld he mu~der yo~. Yo~ makin~ no sense," Ino said, tears were already forming in her eyes. Naru could understand- this cheek-pulling hurt like a bitch.

"I NEV~E SAID T~AT!" she shrieked, as far as she could, after processing what Ino had said.

"But yo~ like him," she rephrased immediately and if she had been able to, she would have grinned like a lunatic when she saw Naru blush furiously. "So~ whe~e is the dam~ broblem?"

Naru felt dizzy and hot and all overwhelmed with the situation, so she squeezed her eyes together and did what she could do best: Be loud.

"HE THO~T I WAS'E FU~KIN~ GUY!"

Ino pulled her cheeks a last time full force and Naru squeaked because of the pain, before falling back right across the table. Her head met the wooden plate with a hard smack and the blonde girl groaned painfully. Not only hurt her damn cheeks- were probably red, too- but now she had lost another few brain cells, as if not enough people teased her about it already.

"Hag," she groaned pitifully and blinked several times disoriented. She could only make out a dark blob standing over her head.

"What the hell do you mean, he thought you were a guy?" eventually was Ino's screech.

Naru flinched at the volume, but thankfully her sight slowly cleared up.

"Just as I said, he thought I was a guy," she repeated and the moment she finished her sentence, she realized that the former blob had been Sasuke, who's patented Uchiha-death-glare was scarier than ever before.

Panicked like a deer in the headlights, she saw that Sasuke was about to move or say something, but he was interrupted- again. Suddenly, there was a heavy weight on her stomach and Naru coughed breathlessly.

"Are you fucking blind, man?" was the indignant screech of Ino's voice above her. The woman had sat on her belly, pointing her painted nail sharply at Sasuke first and then at Naru's face. "Look at those big blue eyes! What a guy has eyes like that? And she's a shrimp! She's always been a shrimp! And her eyelashes! Hello? No one in their right mind would think she's a damn guy!"

With every statement the blonde made Sasuke's face became darker and darker and Naru became smaller and smaller. Leave it to Ino to provoke Sasuke when he was already at his limits.

"Yeah and look at those glorious tits, you would never found them on a guy."

Naru squeaked when someone squeezed her breasts shamelessly. Looking up at Sasuke's handsome face she blushed like a ripened tomato, but when his eyes slowly travelled down her body, she also followed their way.

She had no idea where Ino had gone, but she knew that Sai was not supposed to sit on her, much less play around with her breasts, especially when Sasuke was around. Seeing the happy expression on his face, something in Naru exploded.

Everything up until now had been hell and Sai was the one who would have to pay for it.

After that, the dining hall turned into a torture chamber.

* * *

"You've broken two rips, one leg; gave him a concussion, half a swollen face, a blue eye, several bruises and knocked out another two teeth. Do you have anything else to say to that?" enraged the headmistress looked at the blonde girl, standing before her.

Right beside her were the cowering form of Hyuuga Hinata and the slightly nervous Yamanaka Ino. Against popular belief weren't those presences something new to her.

Naru had been going in and out of her office since this damn pervert of Jiraya had sent the tomboy to her with forged papers years ago. A little angel, who didn't go against her fellow students and teachers? She snorted. He had sent Satan's spawn to her and she had welcomed the damn brat even with open arms. That had been the case till only three days later the brat had sent one of her best teachers into depression. She might have even thought it had been all a misunderstanding, if not said teacher had returned a week later and after another three days with the girl had quit altogether.

Exactly that afternoon she had heard of Jiraya's escape and she hadn't been able to found the man for months.

The result- she had been left with the blonde devil. She couldn't transfer the girl back.

Later, when the blonde had befriended first the shy Hyuuga and then the Yamanaka, they had always arrived together, because where one was found the other two were near. This fact was enhanced when Naru became student council president. She would never understand why people had appointed her; even though Tsunade knew she did a good job- she deliberately overlooked the part about her grades.

However, the point was those three were nearly inventory of her office but the teens behind them were not! They were new! They weren't supposed to be in her damn office after only a week!

"He deserves even more," Naru's harsh voice interrupted her train of thoughts, bringing her back to the glaring topaz in front of her.

She narrowed her eyes. There was no other possibility. It could only be Naruto's fault that new students were sent to her damn office.

"What, please tell, deserves even more pain?" she asked, throwing her stapler at the stubborn girl. She easily sidestepped the objective, being used to it since her school transfer, and instead it hit the brunette boy at the door right at his head. Immediately he went down, whimpering because of the heavy pain. Beside him the girl with the weird pink hair flinched; probably scared of Tsunade's monstrous strength.

Tsunade's head switched to the sobbing boy. "What the hell is wrong with you? You're supposed to be a man, stop your whining!"

"Are you shitting me?" the boy, Inuzuka Kiba, she remembered in a dark corner of her mind, screeched at her. "I think I've got a fucking concussion! What kinda teacher throws a damn stapler at her students!"

"Shut it!" she growled and turned back to Naru. The teenage girl had a pout on her lips, her arms were crossed under her breasts and she was looking through the big window to her left. Tsunade knew that Naru was uncomfortable and the reason for it was the growling shadow in the room's corner.

Throughout the whole time the youngsters had been in her office, Uchiha Sasuke had not taken once his eyes off the cornered blonde, penetrating her with deep coal eyes, analysing her openly. Tsunade would have thought, the guy felt a least partly conscious of his staring, but he seemed totally oblivious of his strange behaviour.

"Naru," she said, keeping her gaze on the Uchiha. "You're going to overlook the festivals preparations for the next month."

Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Naru tensing.

"What the hell are you talking about? You can't do this! The match against Oto is next month! Ask Neji, he'll-"

Finally Tsunade returned her glare to the girl. "That wasn't a question, brat. You will do this and everyone else in this room will as well."

"But, Tsunade-sama-" Ino spoke for the first time.

"No buts. Half of the guys here are part of the student council and you just watched how Miss Uzumaki mutilated one of your fellow students."

Ino had a confused look on his face. "Half of- who else is in the council?"

"Besides Naru and Hinata, there is also Haruno over there and Uchiha over in his dark little emo-corner." Now, Sasuke finally managed to take his eyes off the golden blonde and settled his glare on the headmistress. "All of you will monitor the students during the next four weeks until the festival. You'll work together and you will get along, understood?"

"NO!" Naru screamed. "You can't fucking do this!"

"Of course I can. I AM the headmistress and you will do as I say!" Tsunade leaped out of her stool as her arms slammed on the wooden desk. Her chair slowly tippled over and fell with a loud crash on the floor. When Naru's eyes only narrowed, Tsunade glared even more. "Do you understand, Uzumaki?"

Naru averted her gaze and bid her lips stubbornly.

"Uzumaki!"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama," the blonde replied, the reluctance in her voice was palpable.

"Then, get out of here. All of you," she hissed.

Immediately her students got out, at the very front an enraged Naru, followed by the pouting Yamanaka who mumbled annoyed. "Great. Now, we've got to deal with her bitching." Then, Hinata hurried after the two blondes, a worried expression on her pale face. After her stumbled the brunette, still rubbing the large bump on his forehead, with Haruno Sakura right on his feet. The last one to leave was the Uchiha, who glared a last time at the headmistress before turning to the door and closing it after him.

Tsunade heaved a heavy sigh.

Those damn brats were giving her a headache.

* * *

This old decaying hag. She couldn't understand why the woman would do this to her, to Sasuke. She knew what had happened between the two and Naru might not have felt bitter about the incident from back then but it didn't mean she felt comfortable around the boy either.

All those years she had a crush on him, suffered because of their bad parting and Tsunade was ignoring it? That was unbelievable.

"Naru," cried someone behind her. Hinata, she realized and stopped in her steps.

Turning around, her eyes gazed upon her two best friends. Hinata had a compassionate look, maybe she was a little red around her cheeks because of Naru's fast pace, but altogether she looked fine and held a lot of empathy for her. Ino on the other hand was gasping for air and holding her sides. Naru snorted. The girl had no stamina at all.

"What?" the other blonde glared. "You realize, because of your childish behaviour we have to supervise the damn festivities? Do you know how much of a pain the 8th-graders are? They have no respect anymore."

Naru only stared.

"And I'm going to tell you now. I won't be the one to overlook those damn brats. The last time you asked me to do this, those guys poured black paint onto me. I could throw my best clothes away because the damn colour didn't come out of my hair even days later."

Ino began to whirl her hand around, trying to emphasize the meaning to her words.

"Never mind my new uniform. You know how much those costs, right? My father had been furious and grounded me! I mean, he'd never grounded me for the shit we've done before and then because of those kids I get a week sitting around at the house. It hadn't even been my fault."

Naru slowly turned her gaze to Hinata, who also looked at Naru blankly.

"Do you remember the time the cops took us home because we painted on the Danzou-monument? He had never said anything about that. Hell, he'd even paid the prize for the clean-up. Now that I think about it. I hadn't been to one to paint the damn statue to begin with. That had been you! Every time you did something I'm the one who's getting into trouble. And now, you're doing it again. I will so not supervise those brats!"

Right when Ino finished her rambling Naru and Hinata began to chuckle. While Hinata only laughed timidly, Naru's quiet giggle turned fast into a blown out laugh. After a while Ino also chimed in.

They were laughing quite a while- Naru already had a stomachache- when they heard the arrival of three pairs of feet, which halted directly behind Ino. Naru ignored them at first, preferring to let her feelings fade away gradually, instead of facing the dreaded dead on. It had to happen; she might have been able to avoid the confrontation with Sasuke for a short time, but she had known she could not flee forever. They were going to be fellow students again and they would have to talk during student council and their penalty.

Eventually, the last chuckles died away and she took a last deep breath. Then, she stood straight and looked through the space in between her friends' right at the three people who had been part of her childhood.

It was the first time she really got a good look on her old friends.

Inuzuka was the same as she remembered. He still had his brown mob of hair and the wild features of his family. The baby fat on his cheeks had vanished completely and left were two blazing red tattoos in the form of fangs on either one. The chin had become angular with overseen beard stubbles. He had a broad back and stood on long legs, covered by their school's uniform. Seemed the boy had hit puberty rather early.

Haruno Sakura had grown good as well. The young woman stood nearly as tall as Ino, Naru could tell. They both had the stature of a model with long legs, a slender waist and a humble chest. Hair long pink hair- never ever would Naru believe that it was natural- was flowing openly behind her back. Her round face was slightly painted with a warm mint-green shadow on her lids, rouge one her high cheeks and gloss on her small lips. She was wearing the same uniform as Naru herself with exception of the black tie, which was red in Sakura's case and she was wearing the official pumps in contrast to the blonde's white sneakers. Her emerald green eyes were looking at Naru intently.

She feared to lay her eyes on the last person.

Sasuke stood in between Sakura and Kiba, his stance tense and strong. His muscular arms were crossed over the slim torso. The hair was the same black tone she remembered, with the funny blue gleam. Naru had to supress a small smile when she realized that even his hairstyle hadn't changed much. It still stood up at the back of his head and long bangs framed the oval face stylishly. The only thing that differed from his childhood was the parting of his hair, which was no longer visible. Now, the young man had a fringe falling right into his eyes.

There was no longer any kind of baby fat on the handsome face, Naru sadly noticed. But the one visible feature which had stayed the same were Sasuke's eyes. She hadn't lied to Ino; she really had hated Sasuke's eyes. They were so deep there was no way to see the bottom; a dark pool of endless black. It had been Sasuke's eyes showing her the depths of her true feelings. She was happy she could recognize something from the stranger standing before her- a leftover from the boy with the cocky attitude. Those eyes would always make her lose her mind. Currently, they were looking at her with resentment.

"Are you really Naruto?" The voice was high and uncertain.

Sakura was kneading her hands nervously. She had been the one to ask the fated question.

Blankly Naru's eyes stared at the pink-haired girl. There was an unnerving silence around the teens, which was broken by Naru when Sakura dropped her gaze unnerved by the blonde's empty expression. Beside her Hinata shifted from the heavy pressure.

"No, I'm not," Naru answered, silencing Sasuke who was about to open his mouth as well.

"But-" Kiba interrupted but was also cut off by the golden blonde.

"I'm not Naru_to_," she began, staring directly into Sasuke's unreadable eyes. "My name is and _always_ has been Uzumaki Naru."

Finally, she smiled gently at the three.

"Long time no see, Sakura-chan, Kiba-" her voice cracked audibly at the last name. "_Sasuke_."

There was no reaction.

"Hey," Ino whispered into her. "Do you think you broke them?"

Naru snorted.

"So, you're meaning to tell us that this whole time you've lied to us?" Sakura found her voice.

Naru glared at the girl's accusation. "I've never lied to you. I never told any of you people I was a guy. You all came to this ridiculous conclusion on your own."

"But you never told us the truth either," the pink-haired girl screeched offended. "Which means you messed with us th-"

"I had to tell you?" Naru asked wide-eyed, raising her voice. "You dared to call yourself my friend, so wouldn't it be natural to know whether I'm a boy or a girl?"

"You were our friend, too! You should have told us. You owed us at least that!"

"I owe you nothing!" the blonde screamed, enraged by the other girl's statement. "You never wanted to be my friend, Sakura. You only used me to get to Sasuke, just like all my other 'friends'," she spat.

Sakura flinched back under Naru's accusing eyes. Briefly the blue pools set on Sasuke before falling back on her. A cruel smirk formed on the blonde's face. "Seems you finally succeeded. Congratulations. How does it feel to be Uchiha Sasuke's attachment?"

Before she knew it, Sakura had grabbed her by the necktie and Naru had to watch up into the blazing emerald eyes. "How dare you! Say about me what you want but don't you talk about Sasuke-kun-"

The blonde started to laugh hysterically.

"Sasuke. Sasuke. Sasuke. Isn't there something else you can talk about? Every damn thing coming out of your mouth is connected to Sasuke. You haven't changed. You haven't changed one bit. You're just as pathetic as in the past."

The sound of skin on skin echoed around the school's halls. Naru hadn't even noticed the pain till she had realized she was no longer looking at the pretty face of Sakura. Then, the soft humming on her burning flesh reached her consciousness, but it didn't shock her. Sakura had always resorted to physical means when her words had shown no effect.

"Watch it, forehead!" Ino interjected and Naru was shoved protectively behind her blonde friend. Hinata tried to look at her sore cheek but Naru gently rejected the small hands. Her friend obeyed willingly.

She also pulled Ino slightly back, so the other three teens were able to see her. Her eyes found Sakura, again, and she tapped against the hurting cheek with the back of her hand. "Can't stand the truth, eh? You're feeling inferior because he's still not acknowledging you or is it something else? Maybe, you still want to become Mrs Uchiha Sasuke?"

"Don't you think that it's enough, Blondie?" Kiba came between the cat-fight, hiding the unresponsive Sakura behind his broad figure.

"I have nothing against you, dogboy. But don't come in between our crap. Sakura just got what she searched for," Naru answered the tall boy.

"Geez," he uncertainly rubbed the back of his head. "She just asked why you didn't tell us to begin with."

"No, she did not _just_ asked," she told him. "She accused me of cheating her and getting near her _precious_ Uchiha with unfair means."

"Well, then why didn't you tell us you were- _are_ a girl?" Kiba asked. "Don't you think we deserved the truth?"

"No, you did not," she responded without thinking. "There was only one person, who-" She stopped, cursing. She knew to what that would lead.

"One person who would've deserved the truth?" he finished her sentence rhetorically.

Naru averted her gaze, feeling the guilt lying heavy on her shoulders.

"Of course, you're talking about Sasuke, aren't you?" he continued.

"Kiba, shut it," the blonde whirled back to glare at the brunette and avoided the dark gaze of the Uchiha.

"Leave it. All of us heard you. So what? You were just one of his little fangirls and-"

"Don't be ridiculous," she snarled. She felt offended by the mere idea. "I'd never grovel before the bastard's feet as one of his little groupies."

"So why?" the Inuzuka asked again.

Naru smiled ruefully looking down to her worn out sneakers.

"I can tell you why. What does it mean that I wasn't one of his damn fangirls? The instant he would have known I was a girl he would have left me behind anyways. The bastard had never let any girls near him and I hadn't noticed that he had thought I was a boy until it was too late.

"How should I have told him after he'd finally called me his best friend? There was no way I could have given up on our friendship."

Sadly she looked up.

"But what does it matter? He's left me nonetheless. It wouldn't have brought me anything to tell him in the end.

"Isn't that so, Sasuke?" she turned to the Uchiha, who hadn't said one word until now.

She wasn't expecting much. Sasuke had never been a talker and she wouldn't think he had changed in the department to suddenly talk to her like a waterfall.

"Hn," this, however, wasn't the answer she expected either.

"Of course," she hissed. "Why do I even bother? It's not like you care, isn't it? You damn, bastard."

That's it. She had enough of this whole discussion. She had no idea why she had to justify her actions to people that had no meaning and the only person who was important didn't even care.

"You know what? Fuck it!" she finalized, turning around. "School ends at four. You three will come to the student council's office instantly after the last lesson finishes. I'll tell you your tasks then. Don't come late. I'm not very patient. And bring that lazy-ass Shikamaru and the bug-freak. I won't let them off easily just because they skipped out on Tsunade's lecture."

Ino and Hinata were silently following her. They knew to leave her be when she had one of her mood swings until she had calmed down.

"Hey, I can't!" Kiba's voice ringed out after her. "There is-"

Again, he was cut off.

"Does it look like I care?" Naru spoke angrily, giving him the middle finger.

* * *

**Wow, had been over a year^^° I'm really sorry for the people who were interested in this story. I didn't have any vigour to write on because I was so unsatisfied with my writing style. I always use the same words and I don't like that. Hopefully my vocabulary expended a little bit by now, and maybe, my grammar improved as well. Would be awesome. I really hope you guy's will give me some tips or things I should watch out for. **

**Ah, another thing: Writing scenes, where a lot people talk or are present while other talk are a bitch to write. Would be really nice when you guys would give a comment about those scenes, if they were okay or if they sucked?**

**Oh, and this chapter is dedicated to ****Natarii-loves-Chocolate-milk. She's an awesome writer. I love her stories and her writing style. Because of her I started to write again. Big thanx to you :D**

**I hope you'll like this chapter.**

**And to Sasuke. Some people wanted the chapter to be from his point of view but I rather wanted to give a little more from Naru's side and how she thinks about the incident from back then. Seems she's the only one who got over it. Sasuke hadn't really get it yet, that Naru**_**to**_** is a girl. He'll realize wholly in the next chapter. ;)**

**So, until next time.**

Eisfuchs


	4. Aftermath

**I'm alive ^^°**

**Another year, another chapter TT_TT I know shame on me. I got a nice mail from one of my readers and she, to say it short, told me to continue writing. Again thanks so much for it, it really motivated me. So here comes the fourth chapter. I hope you'll like it. **

**This chapter is dedicated to cursedyaoi96 **

**Eisfuchs**

* * *

**Can't Stop Feeling**

* * *

**Author:** Eisfuchs

**Summary:** Sasuke knew he made a mistake at that time. Thus should be happy to get another chance winning his best friend back, right? Wrong, because he was quite sure the last time they met, said friend has been a dude without...boobs... AU SasuFemNaru

**Rated: T**

**Disclaimer: **Naruto© belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

* * *

**Chapter Four – Aftermath**

* * *

His stare was fixed on the slender woman walking away from him, his eyes following the waving golden hair and the curvy waist. Her steps were hard and furious and he could still hear her grumbling all the distance away. Her friends were franticly trying to hold up with her fast pace, the dark-haired girl with more success than the other blonde, but neither of them dared to talk to the golden blonde.

Somewhere in his mind, he still hadn't really progressed what had happened in the last few hours. He knew only that the girl with the golden hair was supposed to be his best friend the one Sasuke had driven away once already. Now, _he_ would walk away from Sasuke. _He _would leave him alone again. The thought alone hurt like nothing he'd ever experienced before.

Unconsciously, he took a step towards the girl. He never noticed the startled stares of Sakura and Kiba, never saw the hurt look in the girl's emerald eyes as he took one unsteady step after the other. He could only see _gold _and _sapphire _and _memories long supressed, but never forgotten._

_Naruto._

"Dobe." A whisper.

_He_ didn't turn around, just kept walking and walking and walking and Sasuke heart was hurting within his ribcage, throbbing like someone was stabbing it with thousand needles. _It hurt_- it hurt really badly. He wasn't used to the feeling and he wanted it to stop. _He didn't want to lose Naruto. _Not again. _Not again, _he told himself. He wouldn't lose _him _once again.

"Dobe." The call became louder.

This time the call was louder, but still not enough to catch the attention of the Uzumaki. The girl wasn't slowing down in her steps, neither were her friends. He waited a moment, just to be sure the girl wouldn't turn around and when she didn't, he growled in anger and walked further forward.

"NARU_TO_," he screamed enraged and it echoed through the hall, quite effectively stopping the girl in her steps. One of her friends, the tall girl with the pale blonde hair, run into her back, cursing violently, and the smaller one looked back at them with a puzzled expression. Then, Ino turned around and glared at him, but it wasn't her he wanted to look at him. Those weren't the blue eyes he wanted to have on him.

It felt like an eternity; only being able to wait for the girl to turn around; to finally being able to see those sparkling pools again, which still weren't able to hide their owner's feelings. He had seen it before, in the lunchroom, where she had first been shocked upon his presence; then embarrassed because of their talk; angry because of the black haired stranger- someone named Sai- and so much more emotions; the exactly opposite of what he saw in his own mirror every morning. Nothing but a pool of indifferent blackness.

_Just like Itachi's._

"Listen, Uchiha", her voice ripped him out of the dangerous train of thoughts. _His saviour. Naru_to_ always saved him. _But this time Naruto wouldn't save him. "Listen good.

"There is no Naru_to. _There never was a Naru_to_", her expression was empty, her eyes intense as she stared him down. "I'm not the friend you're searching for. You should just leave it. Here, you won't find what you're looking for."

_She _left without another word, Hinata and Ino following her wordlessly.

Sasuke could only stare after her. His fists trembled at his sides and he couldn't feel Sakura's timid fingers as she reached after his arms. Kiba stood silently by his side, but Sasuke gaze couldn't leave the place, where _she _had been, where _she _had left him alone. He couldn't believe Naruto dared to leave him, again.

Furiously, he smashed his fist against one of the metal lockers at the wall.

Sakura cried out in shock and Kiba flinched upon his action. Instantly, the pinkette was at his side, looking over the bruised appendage. There was a look of fear while she tended to his hand, but before she could help him in any way, he pulled back and strode by Kiba.

"Don't touch _her_," he threatened the brunette.

Then, Sasuke left, too.

* * *

Naru couldn't believe it. How dare they accuse her of lying, especially that Sakura, never mind Sasuke? She had been telling the truth. She never had told anyone she was a boy. She had been an outsider and an orphan and the only one who had befriended her had been Sasuke. Only afterwards other children had tried to befriend her.

Sakura had been one of the girls, who had thought they could get near the Uchiha through Naru, which wouldn't have worked either way. Sasuke hated girls, end of discussion. And she knew Sasuke would have left her behind, too. So, she had hidden from him. The only one she purposely had lied to about her gender had been Sasuke, which she regretted immensely.

Iruka had told her to never lie, above all to never lie to her _precious _people. Sasuke had always been _special._

"Naru-chan", Hinata asked carefully. Naru stopped and turned to the smaller girl, who watched her every move with worry. "Are you okay?"

Surprisingly, she did feel good. Somehow, she felt lighter. Sasuke finally knew the truth. Sasuke knew that she was a girl and he couldn't disappear into air.

Sasuke was back in her life for good.

"Yeah", she nodded; a small smile emerged on her face. "Yeah, I feel fine."

There was disbelief in Hinata's eyes, but Naru could only smile wider at her friend's worry. Hinata was a sweetheart.

"Believe me, Hinata. I really do feel good."

Ino had the same look as Hinata, but she seemed to accept her words faster. "If you say so", Ino said, nodded and hooked one arm around Naru's and the other one around Hinata's arm. "Then what about a little stroll around town? There was this super cute lip gloss I saw a few days ago, but I thought I wait for the good news until our "headbitch" is back." She laughed at the disgusted face Naru made. Hinata, on the other hand, looked aghast.

"We can't! What about school-"

Ino interrupted the smaller girl.

"Rubbish! School isn't running away, my dear." Naru let herself be dragged by her fellow blonde without any struggle. She knew there wasn't any escape if Ino had set her eyes on something she wanted. Hinata would only fight a lost battle. "Maybe we can ask Gaara to tag along?" There was a lecherous spark in her eyes.

"What-? NO!" Hinata tried to turn away from Ino, but didn't get far with their linked arms. Her head turned bright red and she pouted cutely. Naru watched the shenanigans of her friends and laughed at Ino's obvious teasing. Hinata always became extra cute after she was approached on her relationship with the redhead. Even though they had been together for two years now, she still became overly conscious if someone mentioned their status as couple.

"You know, Hinata-chan. She's only jealous", Naru whispered loudly, so Ino would hear her every word. "It's 'cause you've got one of the hotties at your feet and she only got Sai."

"Ha ha, very funny", Ino grumbled. "At least he knew I was a girl."

Naru froze in her steps and Hinata gasped. Her eyes flew to Naru's figure and then she glared pathetically at Ino. "Ino-chan, that was unnecessary."

Ino let them go and stared the smaller girls down. "Yeah, yeah. I'm a bitch, but let's get real. It isn't everything rainbows and flowers. You can't tell me that you feel nothing or that you feel happy after such a reunion."

The words of her friend hurt Naru. She didn't know why Ino would do this to her. It was one thing to be confronted with her gender issues. She had told Sasuke the truth, for her that window was closed, and about the other things she didn't want to think about. Sasuke had betrayed her and even so she had forgiven him, didn't mean she had forgotten the hurtful words he had said to her. She had only been a child and Sasuke had been her best and only friend.

It was too much for the blonde troublemaker.

"Leave it, Ino!" Naru growled and went to move away. She no longer wanted to skip class with her friends, she would rather be alone. There were too many things to contemplate, besides her meeting with Sasuke. She might have had not the best grades, but against the teacher's belief, she did take her position as student council president seriously and after the week in Oto, there had piled up many issues to work on and to discuss with the council. "I don't have the nerves for this right now."

The blonde didn't come far. Ino grabbed her around the wrist. The blonde tried to wrest herself free from the steel grip, but she didn't stand a chance. "Ino, let go, or-"

"Or what?" Ino provoked her.

Naru could only glare helplessly.

"You know what you're doing?" Her friend asked, but answered without giving Naru a chance to. "You're running away. You're doing nothing, but running away. You're okay? Don't make me laugh. Just take a look in the mirror and you'll see that you look like shit."

"Ino, LET GO!" Naru shouted and tried again to tear out of Ino's grip. She was struggling furiously, so Ino grabbed her other wrist as well. Hinata could only whimper pathetically at the sight.

"Naru!" Ino called, but the smaller one wouldn't calm down. "Naru, dammit. Look at me. NARU!"

"Don't Ino. Just don't", her words were laced with sorrow and misery. "I beg you. Please", she whimpered. Instantly her knees gave in and she slumped to the ground. Ino tried to hold her weight, but she could only watch as Naru sank into herself. Big drops of tears gathered in her eyes and she looked up at her friend, her best friend, with pleading eyes. "Please, Ino, please."

The girls could only watch helplessly.

* * *

Sasuke walked to his next class, by his side were Sakura and Shino. The silent boy didn't say a word and had only nodded after Sakura had informed him about the lecture he had skipped out on. Apparently, he hadn't skipped so to speak, but an actual teacher had run off with him. Sakura hadn't spoken to the furious Sasuke after he had threatened Kiba. The brunette had left shortly afterwards.

And Shikamaru couldn't be found anywhere.

His friend obviously avoided Sasuke's wrath after such a discovery. Sasuke couldn't believe that the boy could hide such information from him. Shikamaru had known, all this time the bastard had known where Naru_to_ was. And he hadn't told Sasuke.

He clenched his fists and ignored the pain in his hand. It couldn't even compare to the betrayal he felt. Everybody had betrayed him.

Naru_to_ had left him.

Shikamaru had known where _she _was this whole time.

Naru_to. A girl. _He growled.

And Kiba wanted to lay his fingers on _her. _On Naru_to. _

…_Itachi…_

"Sasuke-kun", a voice whispered into his ear, "what a mean look you've got on your face, oh my."

He grabbed after the silken tie of the voice's owner and pulled him to eye-level. "Kakashi. You knew." The older man looked as innocently as someone could when half of his face was covered by a white mask. He held his hands up to placate the angered teen. In his eyes, however, Sasuke could see that the adult was clearly aware of the reason of Sasuke's manhandling.

"What might you speak of, littlest Uchiha?" Kakashi asked nevertheless. "You are talking in riddles."

"Don't you bullshit me", Sasuke growled and wrapped the tie tighter around his hand. Kakashi audibly had to gasp for air. "I have met _her."_

"Who did you meet?" There was a slightly strained expression on Kakashi's face, but regardless of how hard Sasuke pulled on the tie, the man wouldn't give in.

"I've met Naru_to."_

Finally, Sasuke let him go.

"I see. I think you might talk about a young girl? Roughly this tall?" He asked, indicating a point around the height where Sasuke's shoulders were. "And gold-ish hair? Baby blue eyes? Nah, I think they were a little darker, royal blue? Cute little kitten marks on her cheeks?"

Sasuke glared daggers at the teacher.

"Yeah, I remember Tsunade mentioning someone looking **exactly** like that. What reason might the littlest Uchiha have to ask me about this completely unknown stranger I have never ever met in my whole life?" Kakashi blinked innocently.

"You knew Naru_to _was here, didn't you? All this time you've lied right into my face, you bastard", Sasuke glared at the adult. Sakura grabbed one of his arms and tried to calm him down, but the teenager tore away from the unwanted touch. "Don't touch me."

Sakura whimpered and her eyes got teary. Obviously, he had hurt the pinkette's feelings, but Sasuke didn't care. It had been a long time since he had been this angry.

"Mah, Sasuke-kun. Sakura's chan's not at fault for your past mistakes", Kakashi drawled.

"Don't you lecture me", the Uchiha snarled. "You should have told me. _He _belongs to me. Naru_to _belongs to me. I've got the right to know where _he_ is."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the odd statement. "Sasuke, Naru is not an object, much less your property."

"SHUT UP!" Sasuke shouted furiously. "Naru_to _is mine and I will show you."

_He would show them all_. Naru_to _belonged to him and he wouldn't let the blonde run off again. The blonde might think that everything was over, but it didn't matter to Sasuke _what _Naru_to_ was. Boy or girl meant nothing to him. Naru_to _was Naru_to. _

"Sasuke", Kakashi growled. "You're making a great mistake."

"No, I'm not.

* * *

Shikamaru hated trouble and he was sure there was going to be a lot. First, there was the lecture with the head mistress he had skipped out on. He was sure he wasn't going to get free of after what had happened in the cafeteria. And, of course, there was Sasuke. Somehow, he had managed to hide the fact he had known about Naru's whereabouts. If it hadn't been for that loudmouth Kiba, he wouldn't have become part of this whole mess in the first place.

It was not like he had wanted to know those things about Naru. Everything had been a coincidence, nothing more.

Two years prior he had met up with his childhood friend, Akimichi Chouji, who had gone to an all-boys-school after grade school and they started to meet from time to time. The chubby teen had told him of his schools fusion with an all-girls school. Chouji had been tense. The boy had always had problems with the fairer sex.

This tenseness had been unnecessary.

Chouji had laughed wholeheartedly after they had met up a few days after school had started again. Apparently, there had been a female who had made a mess during the enrolment. She had beat up some of the arrogant guys of his school, challenged them to a football tournament and ridiculed annoying students and teachers alike. Chouji had said she was like the hero of the small and weak.

She even had helped out the chubby teen while he had been bullied by some of the older girls about his weight. So, the first friend Chouji had made after the fusion was said friend. Imagine Shikamaru's surprise hearing the name "Naru-chan" fell from Chouji's lips.

When Chouji invited him to the game between the girls' and boys' soccer game Shikamaru accepted immediately.

He wouldn't have done it, if he had known about their school's own fusion and the fated reunion between Sasuke and his supposedly best friend. Who would have known Naru_to _was girl? He had never been really interested in the matter until this point in time. And now, he would get hell from Sasuke, because Kiba couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"Naru!"

His head whirled around. Speaking of the devil.

The tall blonde, Ino, he remembered, was kneeling beside the trembling form of Naru. It was pitiful sight. The golden blonde was clinging to her friend and begging her for something Shikamaru couldn't imagine. Her eyes were swollen and red and there were evident traces of tears on her scared cheeks. The other girl, Hinata, was kneeling to Naru's other side, crying compassionately.

Shikamaru sighed. He would rather not be part of this, but he knew Chouji would be disappointed if he left his friend in her misery.

Carefully he walked over to the girls.

Hinata noticed him first and watched his moves with confusion. Then the Ino girl saw him, too and glared at him as if he was at fault for her friends suffering. He ignored the both of them and bent down to his old classmate.

_A girl_. He still couldn't believe it.

"Naru," he whispered soothingly and took her spastic hands off Ino's uniform.

She looked up at him with fearful eyes. The emotion disappeared after she realised who he was and new tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. Next he knew she clung onto him, begging him for forgiveness.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please", she rambled and hiccoughed into his shirt.

Shikamaru nodded and put one hand behind the small of her back, brushing through soft golden hair, and one hand under the hollow of her knees, respectively. He lifted her surprisingly light figure and she clutched onto him only tighter, hiding her face in the shape of his neck. Her begging had become a train of apathetic mumblings.

He knew she was no longer talking to him.

_Sasuke._

"It's okay," he breathed into the shell of her hair. She smelled of fresh apples. "Everything is going to be alright."

The boy indicated Naru's friends to show him the way and Ino nodded unwillingly, taking the lead. Hinata smiled unsurely at him and watched her friend with concern, then followed Ino. The group of four walked over the backyard back to the school. There shouldn't be any fellow pupils, because class had already started again.

He was right. They had no problems reaching the infirmary and the respective teacher met them halfway and fussed about what might have happened to the student council president. She ordered Shikamaru to put the girl down and he did so with an annoyed "Troublesome." She hushed him with an annoyed glance.

They waited at the side of the room, until the teacher finished her examination. Meanwhile he could feel Ino staring daggers into the side of his face. Shikamaru didn't know what he did to the pretty blonde.

"What?" He drawled lazily.

"This is your fault. Yours and those damn friends of yours. I hope your happy, you pineapple head." She hissed and turned away with a whip of her hair. Hinata reprimanded her friend- Shikamaru was sure the Ino girl wouldn't give a damn- and sent him an apologetic glance.

The teenager sighed.

They sure were a weird group of friends.

As far as he could tell, Naru hadn't changed much since the time Shikamaru had known her as Naru_to._ She was still brash, loud, vulgar and a tomboy; even so her appearance concealed her troublesome character. He had to acknowledge, she was pretty. Her golden hair and the sparkling blue eyes were rare to begin with, but her personality gave her exotic looks that certain indefinable something guys were attracted to. Not to forgot the visible curves. There were sure to be many enviers.

His gaze flickered to the other blonde.

The short time he had get to know this Ino girl and about what Chouji had told him, he could clearly define her as stereotypical it-girl. She loved to dress-up and, considering the thickness of the stuff on her face, she loved make-up. He couldn't imagine how Naru became friends with such a girl. Naru couldn't stand Sakura due to her girly behaviour and gushing over Sasuke during their childhood and Ino seemed to be exactly the same type. He would rather see Sakura as Ino's best friend, instead of the boyish Naru.

Then, there was the shy Hyuuga. There was no way the girl could ever defy her two friends; Naruto was just too stubborn to listen to anyone and Ino… _never mind_. He just couldn't understand how those three had become friends. All of them were beautiful, there was no denying it, but there was no way the girls would just flock together because of their looks. Naru didn't work that way.

Sighing, he grumbled over his troublesome thoughts. He didn't even know why he bothered with their reasoning's; it was not like he cared. He had only helped them because of Chouji and because he used to be Naru's classmate. There was no reason to remain in the infirmary.

Nevertheless, the teenager stayed.

* * *

"Sasuke", Kakashi tried to calm the Uchiha down.

"No, keep it", Sasuke growled and turned away. He couldn't stand the teacher presence any longer. Sakura gave the boy and then their long-time teacher an uneasy glance, but followed Sasuke anyway. She had never been able to leave Sasuke alone, especially now that Naru_to _was back in the picture.

_No_, she reprimanded herself. _Naru. A girl. _

"He is being stupid", she heard Shino say in his monotone voice.

"He had always been stupid when it concerned Naru," answered their teacher with an exasperated sigh. "Let's go to class, Shino-kun."

Sakura had to supress the tears.

She had always known Naru held a high place in Sasuke's heart, but after all those years they had been friends, she had thought she belonged to his precious people, too. It didn't seem to be this way, looking at the Uchiha's reaction. His actions upon Naru's appearance had been wild, unpredictable, and_ alive_ as he hadn't been for years. It always had been Naru who had brought out those emotions.

Somehow, she felt jealous.

Sakura had known the Uchiha way longer than the blonde, but she still couldn't get as near as the other girl. It was frustrating. _Unfair. Why always Naru?_

Her pace increased upon the realisation that Sasuke was way faster and might possibly disappear from her sight. He rounded a corner and Sakura ran after him, straight into his back. She could barely hold herself up by clutching the shirt of his uniform.

"Sasuke-kun", she breathed reassured.

As fast as she had gotten hold of him, he ripped himself free. A blazing glare distorted his beautiful features. "Don't touch me."

"But, _Sasuke_-kun," she tried to placate him and grasped at his hands. She wanted to help. She had always only wanted to help him.

"No. Leave me alone, Sakura." He growled and she felt scared just like before when he had threatened Kiba and afterwards Kakashi. She couldn't understand why he would react that way just because of Naru. He was indifferent. Sasuke Uchiha never lost his composure. He was an Uchiha.

"Sasuke-kun, that's not like you", sadness laced her mumbled words.

First, he stared incredulous at her and then mad laughter left his pretty pink lips. His hands nestled into the dark looks of his bangs and one black eye – it almost seemed red in the hall's light – fell onto her apprehensive form. Slowly, but surely the dreadful laughter died and a condescending smile emerged on his face. "This isn't like me?" he sniggered.

He slid over to her, a predatory look in his red-tinted eyes.

Scared, she backed into the corner of the wall. _This isn't my Sasuke-kun_, she could only think and next she knew his hand crashed down beside her face. Black shadows hid his features and a dark growl penetrated her whole body. She could feel a shudder go down her spine.

_She didn't know this Sasuke_.

Tears built in her eyes. She was terrified.

"You say that isn't like me?" he repeated. Sakura didn't answer, so he continued without missing a beat. "What do you know about me? Huh Sakura?" he asked with a seducing purr.

His fist crashed a second time against the wall and she flinched.

Teary, she looked up at him. Sakura could only see hate in his eyes.

It broke her heart.

"You don't know anything."

With those last words the Uchiha disappeared.

Sakura slid down the cold wall and hid her face behind her arms. She had never ever seen Sasuke this angry before. He was like a totally different person. He had scared like nothing else.

Remembering his cruel features, her tears started up again. How could he do this to her? They had been friends for years and now all this meant nothing because of Naru? She hated it. How could one person change the Uchiha to such a level, especially a person he had known no longer than a few years? Why was she so different from the blonde? _Why?_

"What are you doing?"

Sniffing, she looked up.

A boy, probably a year older than herself was standing in front of her. He had long hair, the colour of silken chocolate. Light grey, almost white pupils were framed by dark eyelashes, a sharp nose and high cheekbones sat in an angular face. Pretty pale skin disappeared within the coffins of the school's uniform. The black necktie marked him as part of the student council, but not just any member. _Pres or vice, _Sakura realised.

"I will ask once more. What are you doing here?" he asked down his nose. He looked indifferent and not particularly interested why she was sitting on the ground and bawling her eyes out. The only reason he even seemed to bother was because there was no one else.

_What a prick._

"Nothing," she spat furiously. She didn't need such a person after what had happened with Sasuke. It was just her luck.

"Whatever. It's not like I care", he replied with a dismissive shake of his head. His silken hair swished around his frame beautifully, but Sakura could only gape at the heartless statement. "But you better not stay there too long; people will have problems to move with you in the way."

She gaped after his towering figure, forgetting completely about her situation with the Uchiha.

_How dare this prick?_ She fumed. The tears on her cheeks had tried and only the red around her swollen eyes remained.

Somehow, she had the feeling she was not going to like this school as much as she thought she would.

_What a madhouse._

* * *

**Rather short, I know, and not nearly as funny as the second and third chapter, but I hope you'll like it nevertheless. **

**I'd be really happy about reviews, what you liked, what not so much, if characters seem OOC and so on **

**Somebody already noticed some side pairings besides the obvious ones? **

**SasuNaru**

**GaaHina**

…

**Well, that's it. I hope to update in the near future, preferably next week during easter break.**

**Eisfuchs**


	5. Decisions

**Can't Stop Feeling**

* * *

**Author:** Eisfuchs

**Summary:** Sasuke knew he made a mistake at that time. Thus should be happy to get another chance winning his best friend back, right? Wrong, because he was quite sure the last time they met, said friend has been a dude without...boobs... AU SasuFemNaru

**Rated: T**

**Disclaimer: **Naruto© belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

* * *

**Chapter Five - Decisions**

* * *

Ino watched Shizune fussing over her unconscious friend, while throwing blazing glares at the weird brown-haired guy from time to time. She couldn't understand why he hadn't left yet. She was thankful, because he had helped with Naru, but this didn't mean she would forgive him. It was the pineapples and his friends' fault that this had happened in the first place.

He should have left instead of slumbering in that damn chair like not a damn thing in the world was wrong.

Once more Ino glared at the brunette. She just couldn't stand his uncaring attitude.

She would have liked to pull out the chair from under his lazy ass, but before she could follow through with her thoughts Shizune walked over to the small group of teens. There was a relieved smile on the woman's face and she nodded at them positively.

"It's only stress. She's going to wake up in a while", Shizune told them. "So you better get back to your classes. I'm going to call Iruka to get her."

Ino wrinkled her nose at the information. Naru didn't like to be trouble for her family and would throw a fit, never mind that she would miss soccer practice once again.

"No, it's alright. I'll tell her brother," Ino said, already fishing for her purple mobile phone. Her fingers swiftly moved over the touch screen and the mail was sent before Shizune could protest. She knew Naru would kill her for doing this, but at least Iruka wouldn't hear any word of the situation. He was a mother-hen when Naru was concerned.

In an instance, there was a reply, saying he was on his way.

She could feel someone staring at her and curiously looked only to be caught in bored brown eyes. Immediately, she narrowed her own ones at the intruder, because as far as she knew he was nothing more than that.

"What are you looking at, pineapple?" she hissed. She could feel Hinata's gentle touch on her elbow and growled, but headed her warning anyway. She threw one last disgusted look his way and then left the brunette and Hinata behind.

She couldn't understand how Hinata could befriend the enemy. He was the reason- at least part of the reason- for Naru's suffering and if Hinata wouldn't let him feel it, Ino would. Nevermind, the Sasuke guy and the forehead girl, no one hurt her best friend.

First, she had thought Naru was exaggerating, but the golden blonde had been right. Her prince was a cold fish. Ino had watched him throughout Tsunade's lecture and afterwards and she hadn't been able to read any of his body language. He had been standing in his corner, staring at Naru, like he was a goddamn marble statue. If anyone asked her, he was as creepy as Sai.

And she could verify just how creepy Sai was. They had been dating on and off for years, now. This time, however, she had been serious about breaking up for good. Sai, as well as Ino, had known for a long time that they weren't meant for each other, but for both it had been nice while it lasted.

The halls were empty and she easily made her way up to the rooftop. She had no longer any vigour to go to class.

She went over to the railing and searched for a cigarette in the inside of her pocket. She had promised Naru and Hinata to quit, but she had never been good with going through with her words, unlike Naru. Whatever the girl promised she would pull through it.

Sometimes it made Ino envious.

She lit one of the cancer sticks and sighed with relief when the smoke filled her lungs.

Perhaps she would really stop after this, whatever it was that was coming, was over. Her breaking up with Sai had been the first step, a small one, but it was a start.

A tall figure with fiery red hair made its way over the school yard and she smiled with little amusement at the sight.

* * *

The door to the infirmary was opened with audibly force.

Shikamaru woke up in surprise, almost falling off the chair he had slept in again. With barely open eyes and confusion he watched a redheaded guy, probably a few years older than himself, made his way over to Shizune-sensei.

The teacher seemed as startled as himself, but gave the red-head a friendly smile. He couldn't see the guy's reaction, but he couldn't have returned the gesture. Shizune lips had quickly formed into a strict line and she started to shuffle nervously in the redhead's presence.

Shikamaru couldn't hear what they were saying, so he took a short look around.

The blonde, Ino, hadn't returned and only Hyuuga Hinata had remained in the room. The girl was sitting beside her friend and shooting small glances at the red-head and Shizune. Naru was still sleeping in one of the infirmary's beds.

A sudden movement in the corner of his eyes brought his attention back to the red-head.

At last, Shikamaru got a good look at the older man.

Apart from the fiery red hair, he had a striking black strand on the right side of his face, slightly longer than the rest of his spiky red hair. He had an angular face with sharp features. Dark grey eyes were rimmed by black eyelashes and set over a straight nose and downturned lips. He had a lip piercing, a black ring, on the side he had the black strand.

His long legs were covered by black jeans and he wore a leather jacket over a dark-blue shirt.

"Hinata," his voice was deep and smoky as he greeted the much smaller Hyuuga.

Hinata blushed and greeted the redhead in return with a small nod. The redhead must have been used to her shy character, because he only ruffled through her long hair before turning to the sleeping Naru.

He bent over Naru's form and stroked the shining blond hair gently out of her face. Then, all of a sudden, he pulled her cheeks apart, completely adverse to his former gesture.

Shizune must have been as horrified as he was flabbergasted.

"Hey, stupid," the man spoke, his voice filled with disinterest. "Wake up already."

Naru's eyebrows narrowed in discomfort and her eyelids opened in an instant. Blue eyes were first a little dizzy, but focused quickly. A tanned hand knocked the redhead away before the blonde sat up with an exaggerated groan. Naru wiped her hand over her eyes in annoyance and then blinked at the redhead with obvious anger.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She sat up slowly and stroked her long hair back.

The redhead only crossed his arms and watched the blonde.

"I'm here, because you thought it would be nice to play Sleeping Beauty," he gave her a short thoughtful look-over before snorting incredulously. "Or more like Sleeping Ugly."

"Shut the fuck up, dickhead," she replied like a bullet. "Get lost."

They glared at each other ruthlessly. Hinata stood beside the pair and could do nothing but watch.

Shikamaru sighed. "How troublesome."

A second later he wished he had kept quiet. Two furious glares were now directed at him.

"What are **you** doing here?" The blonde growled at him and he shrugged. If she couldn't remember, he had no need to tell her about her collapsing. It would only drive the blonde in an embarrassing situation and he wanted to spare her from that. Shikamaru thought she had enough of those for one day already.

The happenings in the cafeteria must have been more than humiliating to her. She was not only labelled as a former crossdresser, she was also sexually harassed by some Sasuke look-alike and had accidently confessed his love to the real deal, who hadn't even gotten the confession face-to-face, from his childhood friend, who was supposedly a _guy_.

Shikamaru couldn't even think of something more embarrassing and _troublesome_ as Naru's situation. Well, it was her own fault for being too carless and getting talked into this mess. He wouldn't forget that Naru's close friend, the bitchy blonde, had been the indicator for the cafeteria-scenario either. It was just her luck that they had been sitting so close.

"What? Cat got your tongue?"

Shikamaru blinked once. He had completely forgotten about Naru and who he assumed was her brother. They had identically glares on their faces, probably waiting for an answer on his part. Beside them, Hinata shuffled nervously her feet and sent apologetic looks in his direction.

Slightly clueless on what to do, he scratched his temple.

He was saved when Hinata answered for him.

"Naru-chan," she began and alternated between watching the three of them. Naruto turned her glazing eyes to the shy girl, but the redhead's ones were still focused on Shikamaru's slumped form. "Nara-kun helped when you fainted."

Naru spluttered, her face turning the colour of a ripened tomato. "I did not faint."

Finally the redhead turned his dark gaze away from him and instead raised a doubtful eyebrow at his sister.

The blond noticed the gesture instantly and glared invisible daggers at the young man.

"What the fuck are you looking at?!" Naru screeched. "I merely took a little nap."

Nobody replied to her pitifully excuse and she turned even redder when the redhead's eyebrow was raised only higher, obvious disbelief written all over his face.

"Sure, don't believe me. It's not like I care," she growled and turned away with a pout.

Again, Shikamaru scratched his temple. He didn't know what he was supposed to do now that Naru had turned back to her usual self. He didn't even know why he had stayed with the girl when she had enough people to care about her. It might have been because of Chouji, but deep down he knew there was another reason, too.

Shikamaru had always been intrigued by Uzumaki Naru_to_, might it be in past or present.

He sighed and stood up. There was no way he wanted to go down that line of thoughts.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

He lazily picked up his school bag.

"Going back to class," he answered the blonde and turned to leave. There was nothing else to do. Naru didn't want him there and strangers were too much trouble for him, especially the redhead. It made him edgy to just being watched by those piercing grey eyes.

"Hey," he stopped upon the sound of Naru's uncertain voice and looked back. She was avoiding his eyes, nervously running her hands though the blond locks at her neck. "Thanks."

Pretty blue eyes looked up at him.

"Shika."

A small smile flittered over the boy's mouth.

* * *

His knuckles were hurting. It was no wonder after he had smashed his fist against the locker thrice. There were scratches around the bones and his flesh had turned an ugly red and blue and green. The appendage throbbed to the pulse of his heart, but he flexed his fingers despite the pain.

Maybe it was his punishment for losing it this way or, perhaps, the pain distracted him from more dangerous thoughts, he didn't dare to approach yet.

Accepting the blonde back in his life was easy, because Sasuke had always regretted their parting. He might have had overreacted in the past, when he had ridiculed and insulted his blonde, but he had been overwhelmed as a child. Back then, Sasuke had had slowly but surely become dependent on Naru_to_ and never noticed himself. Then Naru_to_ had told him about _his_ leaving and Sasuke had snapped.

The thought that Naru_to _would have left him, his only confidante, had driven him mad. Sasuke hadn't thought about the distance between them or other possibilities to communicate; he had thought the worse. Naru_to _would have left him alone after he had cruelly crawled his way into his heart and had attached _himself _like a rotten leech that would never let go.

His young mind had felt fully and utterly betrayed, so he had lashed out. His only thought was to hurt the blond before he could hurt Sasuke.

The result had been devastating.

He had lost Naru_to_ and no chance of getting _him_ back.

There had been hope to see the blond again, of course. Sasuke had imagined how it would go when they saw each other again. Naru_to _would forgive him, of course, and everything would return to normal. Sasuke would get his blond, his best friend, back._ But_ reality was completely different than what Sasuke had expected.

This was the train of thoughts he actually dreaded to approach, because if he wanted Naru_to back,_ meant he had to acknowledge that Naru_to _was in fact a _girl_. His best friend's name wasn't Naru_to_, but _Naru_ and _she_ was a _girl._ A full-blooded _girl_ with long eyelashes, pretty lips, boobs and other things _girls_ had he didn't want to think about.

And even though he had told Kakashi it didn't matter, it did.

He wasn't gay, but he had bad experiences with girls. They had always flocked around him; the best example was Sakura, who he hadn't been able to get rid of for years now. That was probably the reason he never had any interest in girls. There was no allure to them when they attached themselves to him on their own.

Knowing that Naru was a girl, he didn't know how to continue.

Did he still want the blonde by his side?

_Of course._

Even though he had the knowledge of Naru being a girl?

_He wasn't sure._

Had Naru turned into a girl like all those other once? Had the Naru_to _he had known changed?

_He didn't know._

He would have to think further about this matter.

Sasuke made his way around another corner, searching for the infirmary he had passed a few days prior. He knew it had to be somewhere around this wing and he couldn't just leave his hand the way it was.

"Let me down, asshole," screeched a familiar female voice.

Instantly Sasuke froze in his steps. Deliberately slowly he turned around to the hallway he came from and his eyes turned into a blazing glare at what he saw. The hate he had managed to supress after leaving Sakura behind came back up with a force of an erupting volcano.

He clenched his hurt fist and ignored the painful throbbing.

There was Naru_to,_ heaved up piggyback-style on some _redhead's _back_. _Despite the blonde's visible discomfort and embarrassment at the man's treatment – she was hitting him rather hard - he hated the sight.

He loathed how tan thighs were wrapped around the guy's waist, clutched by big hands so the blonde wouldn't jump of the broad back. The slender arms and small hands that were clutching and ripping fiery strands weren't supposed to touch this stranger. He could see Naru_to_'s breasts pressed in between their bodies and Sasuke couldn't stand it.

He couldn't stand someone touching his possession.

For all he knew, just like he had told Kakashi, Naru_to _was his. Whether he wanted her by his side or not didn't matter. He could still decide over this matter afterwards, but Naru_to _should know better.

Uchiha's didn't share.

He had decided.

Against his rage and instinct to rip the blonde out of the redhead's clutches, he could and would wait until he met Naru_to _alone. Then he would act.

Naru_to _couldn't run away. Sasuke wouldn't allow it, not now that the blonde was back in his life.

So he let them be for the time being.

Supressing the dark feelings within his heart once more, Sasuke entered the infirmary to treat his hand.

* * *

She had no idea how things had turned out this way.

After being insulted and tossed aside like that, Sakura had followed the admittedly handsome prick. First he had ignored her, which hadn't been hard, because she hadn't done much but follow him silently, an angry expression on her puffy face.

The prick had turned this way and that way – Sakura had no clue where he was headed – but after realising he wouldn't start any conversation anytime soon, she had snapped.

"Just where the hell are you going?" she had growled loudly and finally the prick had stooped.

She had followed his example with a humph and waited for him to turn around.

He didn't. The prick just looked over his shoulder, sending her a questioning stare out of pale grey eyes. If she didn't know better, she would have thought he was blind. But the eyes that were gazing at her were piercing and superior in a way only Sasuke looked at people.

After years she had not been affected by Sasuke's cold eyes anymore, she felt small and insignificant under his gaze.

It was humiliating.

She had worked hard to change, to become what she was now; someone, a friend, perhaps more, able stand by Sasuke's side. And this prick made her feel like she was nothing but the dirt under his shoes.

She couldn't stand it.

"You are supposed to be in class", the prick only commented before she could snap at him and then turned back on his merry way.

Sakura was shocked and angry and embarrassed.

Disbelief was displayed on her face at his obvious dismissing of her presence.

If he thought he would get rid of her this easily he had another thing coming. Sakura had become stubborn after following the Uchiha year after year. She wouldn't be deterred this easily.

So there routine started a new.

The prick silently went on wherever he was going and Sakura followed without saying a word.

She wouldn't think of how weird they might look to outsiders. And even if she might seem like a stalker she had a statement to make.

It didn't take long after that to realise where the young man was headed.

He stopped in front of the principal's office, which Sakura had left only an hour prior. She gulped upon the thought of meeting the headmistress after her scolding, but she knew she couldn't back down now.

Even though the prick wouldn't think anything if she would disappeared now, for Sakura it was like giving up. And she couldn't allow that.

There was no other possibility but to be confronted by Lady Tsunade another time, hopefully the woman would have calmed down by now.

Surprisingly the prick waited until Sakura reached his side and only then knocked on the intimidating door. Sakura could swear she had seen the prick smirked out of the corner of her eyes, but deliberately ignored the action.

There was familiar male voice calling out to enter, so it was no surprise to see her old headmaster Jiraiya in the room, too.

Sakura ignored his curious look and gulped when Tsunade send her an angry look. However, the woman didn't say anything and just turned to her companion.

"Hyuuga," she acknowledged his presence.

"Tsunade-sama," he bowed minimally. "You asked for me?"

Nodding in affirmative, Tsunade skimmed though some papers on her desk and spoke without looking up. "You were supposed to handle the preparations for next month's festivals, weren't you?"

She didn't wait for an answer and continued. "I think you might have heard about certain occurrences in the cafeteria. So, you won't be surprised to get some uncounted help from the brat and those others idiots that started this mess."

The Hyuuga grunted and Sakura blushed slightly. She was included in those 'other idiots'. She hadn't been this embarrassed in years.

"The brat was supposed to meet after school with everybody responsible, but it got to my ears that she will be hindered to attend. That means I leave the meeting in your hands for now."

For the first time the Hyuuga seemed interested in something upon hearing Naru's absence. Sakura was curious as well. There was nothing wrong with the girl last time she had seen her.

"Understood?"

"Of course, Tsunade-sama", the Hyuuga replied and Tsunade grunted.

"You can start with Haruno there. She should at least know who is supposed to attend." She stood straight when those pale eyes fell on her form. This time she could see his smirk clearly and she trembled in fury at the sight. Obviously he was making fun of her.

"Of course, Tsunade-sama", Sakura pressed out of tight lips.

Sakura hadn't expected for Tsunade to look up at her with narrowed eyes, so she repeated her words more loudly and clear. Sighing in relief when Tsunade nodded and returned to her papers, she allowed herself to relax.

However, she tensed again, hearing the quiet amused chuckle from the Hyuuga.

It irritated her immensely.

She shouldn't have followed him. The day was only getting worse with every minute. And now, she even had to help this prick with a task that Naru had been put in charge of. She was still angry at the blonde for her deception and the humiliation she had given Sakura in front of her friends, in front of Sasuke.

They left the principal's office.

Sakura sighed in distress, no longer bothered by the Hyuuga's attitude. She would rather get home, sleep and forgot about everything that had happened. The day had been more than tiring.

"Haruno-san", Hyuuga said and she could barely stand to look up at those pervasive eyes. "Shall we start anew?"

Having no clue what the Hyuuga was talking about, Sakura narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

"We will have to work along for the whole month. In my opinion it will be contributing if we could help each other for the aforementioned timeframe."

Sakura blinked. She could see logic in his words. It wouldn't do any of them good to fight each other, so she would accept, reluctantly.

Outstretching her own hand she waited for him to do so as well.

Hyuuga grasped her hand in his, an amused smile on his handsome face.

"Hyuuga Neji", he introduced himself.

She nodded with a small blush, not knowing where it came from and gave him a timid smile.

"Haruno Sakura. For the sake of good cooperation."

Hopefully, she hadn't made a mistake.

* * *

Hinata felt save in those strong arms embracing her.

The whole day had been nothing but a rollercoaster of emotions. Some people might have thought she had no reason to be concerned, but she always worried about her friends.

Ino hadn't been herself for some time now and even though she could hide it from Naru didn't mean Hinata wouldn't see. The Hyuuga girl had always been sensible of her friends' problems; the friends that had helped her with her own troubles and showed her she was worth more than her father had made her believe.

Hinata knew Ino spoke the truth this time, about breaking up with Sai. The blonde might have had some feelings for the dark-haired man at the beginning, but she was sure to realise that she was nothing more than a substitute. Sai liked Naru, like really liked her.

The realization must have hurt Ino greatly, but she had had never talked about the pain and kept her smile, affectively fooling Naru. Their friend was just too naïve for her own good, which was probably the reason Ino couldn't be angry with her. Naru had never noticed Sai's feelings, because of his careless touching and groping. Ino wouldn't be able to blame her best friend after everything Naru had done for the both of them.

Hopefully, Ino would soon find the happiness Hinata was granted first with.

Then there was Naru's situation. Hinata had been barely able to see Naru in the pitiful being that had collapsed today. If she had been asked before how to describe Naru, Hinata would have used words such as 'unpredictable', 'stubborn' and 'strong'. Unpredictable she sure had been, because Hinata had never expected Naru to fall into such despair. There had no longer been the prideful strong woman she had grown into, but only a vulnerable little girl who couldn't forget about the past.

Hinata understood why Ino had called Kurama. The young man would know best how to deal with the blonde. He was her brother by blood after all. He would care for his sister, because they became even more precious to each other after they had realised they still had family left. Naru might love Iruka just as much, but the bond she had with her brother was different.

Hinata herself couldn't explain it. The relationship she had to her little sister was more than sad, so she wouldn't be able to understand.

But, Hinata wasn't anymore as bothered by her family's situation as before. She had found someone who would catch her if she felt this time. She had someone who would hide her from the world and its cruel sides if her feelings became too much, if she felt she couldn't deal with her problems any longer.

Hinata had found love.

Hinata had been given Gaara.

And as much as she had been intimidated by him when they first had met, she loved the stoic redhead all the more, now, and wouldn't give him up for anything in the world.

Gaara was never forceful when she had worries. He gave her the time she needed to think about everything and afterwards when she was ready to talk, he would answer her honestly, sometimes almost brutally honestly. But, she loved that about him, even though it had been hard to get used to. It was the redhead's character and she wouldn't want to have him any differently. There had been enough lies and intrigues in the Hyuuga household to last her a lifetime.

Unexpectedly, Gaara had an almost painfully gentle side inside him, too. Thinking about it, he seemed to be just as fragile as Naru had been today. However, both had been perfect in hiding those vulnerable feelings.

Gaara's pain only Naru and she had seen. Naru, because she had been friends with the redhead for years; he had become her best boy friend. And Hinata had been allowed this precious privilege, because Gaara had returned her feelings. She had been allowed to see a side no one would see, not even his beloved siblings. Hinata didn't want anyone else to see this Gaara, _her _Gaara.

Sometimes she even begrudged Naru for having beheld this side of _her _redhead and Hinata hated herself for it. She shouldn't hold it against her friend, but Hinata loved Gaara so much and she just felt so jealous thinking about it. Who would have known the shy Hyuuga would be this possessive? It made her feel ugly and guilty and unworthy of the friendship to the blonde.

On the other hand, she wanted her friends to be able to feel the same happiness she had found. Hinata wasn't sure how she could help Naru and Ino, but she would do anything in her might. Because she always had someone standing beside her, someone to watch her back.

Hinata snuggled deeper into the warmth of the body that held her.

Gaara's arms were wrapped around her tightly and she could feel his shallow breathing against the top of her head while he slept. With a blush she could see the hickey she had left on the pale flawless skin of his neck. His body was hard and warm and felt secure against her body and their legs were tangled under his dark comforter. He was as relaxed as no one would see by daylight. This unshielded Gaara only she knew.

She would do anything to give her friends their happily ever after and she would use the festivities preparations as a starting point.

* * *

Gazing up at the dark firmament, she asked herself if the sky had ever been so clear. The moon stood high and illuminated every tree, every street and even the smallest creature trying to hide in the night's darkness. The stars sparkled like never before, at least to her it seemed that way.

They reminded her of Sasuke.

She drew herself tighter around her sitting form where she was sitting on the windowsill. Outside of her room she could hear Kurama and Iruka arguing about her, about what had happened today. She gave Ino the fault. As much as her friend might have thought it was a good idea to call her brother. It was not.

Kurama would use this against Iruka.

Since Kurama had found her, he had wanted her to move in with him. He was her brother by blood and of age, so he wanted her living in his flat, where she belonged. Iruka was her legal guardian, however, and the only family the grade school teacher had left. She loved them both, but she didn't know what to do without hurting either of them.

Now, Kurama had a reason to take her away. Because he was giving Iruka the fault for her condition.

Hinata and Ino didn't know about her family's situation. She had hidden it, because they worried enough already. With Sasuke's appearance it became only harder.

She would have been able to handle Kurama and Iruka. Naru knew that with time she would have gotten them to cool down and realise that both wanted only the best for her, that they had the same goal and would befriend each other for the sake of her happiness.

The reunion between her and Sasuke changed that.

It was too much for her to work out her family and her issues with Sasuke at the same time. She knew Sasuke and in the few hours she had seen him again, she had already realised he hadn't changed; not one bit. Sasuke would hunt her down and play right into Kurama's hand even though they had never met before.

Of course, Kurama had heard about the Uchiha. How could Naru deny her brother about her past when he was this worried about her?

It drove her crazy.

It had been years since she had felt this helpless. There was no great idea, no plan, how she could change the outcome. Hell, she couldn't even imagine how things would turn out now.

Sasuke had been a factor she had never calculated in the near future.

She tensed with the knowledge of her lack of power. Her eyes tore up by the thought of having to betray Sasuke once again. This was how he would interpret the path she would take and he would be furious. He would hate her and it broke Naru's heart.

She would never get her best friend back.

Naru had decided.

There was the loud slam of the door and she knew Kurama had left. For now.

For the sake of her family, she would avoid Sasuke.

For the happiness of her brother and her adoptive father, she would destroy the little of what was left of the bond between Sasuke and her.

* * *

**TBC**


End file.
